AZERBAIJAN: WOMEN'S EMPOWERMENT ACTION REQUEST

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BAKU 000273 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR S/WE; IWI E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM KWMN KDEM AJ SUBJECT: AZERBAIJAN: WOMEN'S EMPOWERMENT ACTION REQUEST SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED - NOT FOR INTERNET DISTRIBUTION. ¶1. (U) This is an action request. ¶2. (SBU) In a February 27 meeting with the Ambassador, Chairperson of Azerbaijan's State Committee for Family, Women and Children's Issues, Hijran Huseynova, thanked the USG for her recent successful trip to the U.S. She applauded the USG's emphasis on promoting women's empowerment and said that the GOAJ is very interested in following up and deepening USG-GOAJ cooperation on this key issue. She noted that, as a secular Muslim country with a history of women's rights -- under the 1918-1920 Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, the first parliamentary democracy in the Muslim world, women could vote in Azerbaijan before they could in the U.S. -- Azerbaijan would be an excellent partner for the U.S. in advancing women's empowerment in the Muslim world. She said that at a recent meeting of Muslim women leaders in Turkey, Azerbaijan, Turkey and Jordan had represented the most progressive positions. ¶3. (SBU) Reflecting on her very useful discussions in Washington, Huseynova invited Ambassador Tahir-Kheli to come to Azerbaijan at the earliest opportunity. She provided the Ambassador a list of ideas for possible USG-GOAJ cooperation on women's empowerment and invited a USG response (see para. 6). Huseynova raised the possibility of the USG and GOAJ hosting a conference or round table in Baku on women's empowerment. ¶4. (SBU) With respect to women's rights and empowerment in Azerbaijan, Huseynova pointed out that the legal infrastructure is basically in place. However, there is considerable work to be done to encourage women to take advantage of their rights, especially in the regions. She asked for USG support for the committee's efforts. ¶5. (SBU) Comment and Action Requested: We agree that Azerbaijan has the potential to be an excellent partner in advancing the USG's objectives on women's empowerment, especially in the Muslim world. We believe that supporting women's empowerment here will advance our democratization goals in Azerbaijan as well. We will review Huseynova's suggestions for increased bilateral cooperation and develop ideas about concrete next steps. A visit by Ambassador Tahir-Kheli would send an excellent signal of our interest in working with Azerbaijan and help define an agenda for bilateral cooperation. Please advise. ¶6. (SBU) Below is the full text (verbatim) of Huseynova's proposal on joint cooperation between the USG and the GOAJ's State CommitQe for Family, Women, and Children's Issues: ¶1. The awareness-raising campaigns and activities on the Law on Gender Equality of the Republic of Azerbaijan. ¶2. The surveys on exploration of the nature and reasons of early marriages (especially in the southern regions of Azerbaijan). ¶3. The joint projects on awareness-raising campaigns of negative impact of early marriage on girl future in the regions of Azerbaijan. ¶4. The support of the researches on elimination of gender stereotypes in the country. ¶5. The establishment of Research Resource Center on Family, Gender, and Children issues. ¶6. The awareness-raising campaigns among women on elimination of the births delivered out of the hospitals causing child and maternal mortality. ¶7. Awareness-raising activities on trafficking in human being. ¶8. Analyzing the reasons of women's low participation in the small and medium entrepreneurship (SME) sector with a focus on identifying constraints and strategies for overcoming them. ¶9. Supporting women's participation in the small and medium entrepreneurship sector by targeting business training programs and support services to women; increasing women's access to finance through the banking sector by creating special financial advisory services and lending opportunities; simplifying lending processes so that rural women can effectively make use of credit facilities. ¶10. The assessment on research of obstacles in increasing of women's participation in decision-making process. ¶11. The preparation of annual reports on assessment of gender equality situation in the country. BAKU 00000273 002 OF 002 ¶12. The preparation and dissemination of digest including national legislation and international legal documents ratified by the Republic of Azerbaijan in the field of women and children's rights among state structures and among the population. ¶13. The preparation of the publications in the field of gender equality and children's rights to raise-awareness of population in these spheres. ¶14. The coordination of the projects on the women, family and children issues being conducted in the Muslim countries. ¶15. The preparation of the regional projects related to the family, women and children areas. DERSE