International Migrants Day was celebrated in Baku on December 18

An event dedicated to the International Migrants Day was organized on December 18.

Deputy Chief of State Migration Service, III rank state migration service counselor Parviz Musayev, head of the representation of IOM in Azerbaijan Serhan Aktoprak, Ombudsperson Elmira Suleymanova, head of the European Union Delegation to Azerbaijan Kestutis Jankauskas and others delivered a speech mentioning the importance of the International Migrants Day in terms of drawing the society’s attention to the problems of migrants and raising awareness.

It was pointed out that on December 18, 1990 UN General Assembly adopted the “International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and members of Their Families”. This convention was ratified with the law of the Milli Mejlis of the Republic of Azerbaijan dated from December 11, 1998. Since 2000 December 18 is celebrated as International Migrants Day in the world.

It was mentioned that in modern period one of the most actual and important issues is protection of the rights of foreigners and stateless persons, migrant workers, as well as refugees. While the rights of migrants are violated during the migration crisis raging in the world, the legislative framework is being improved in our country in order to increase efficiency in this field, necessary conditions for their protection are created and efforts are being made for adapting them to local conditions.

Rapid development of our country, stability, implemented projects, development of tourism, as well as high level organization of the events, competitions, forums and meetings of international significance in Azerbaijan have attracted attention of the world to our republic. For this reason number of foreigners coming to our country is growing every year.

It was informed that during the 11 months of 2017, 38020 people were given temporary residence permit and 2752 persons were granted permanent residence permit. 573 persons, including 378 stateless persons, were admitted to citizenship of Azerbaijan. 3 applicants (8 people with family members) were granted refugee status. In total, 67 persons as refugees are registered by SMS, of which 44 persons are applicants and 23 persons are their family members.

It was mentioned that last year world leaders approved a number of new commitments to protect migrants and refugees through the adoption of the New York Declaration on Refugees and Migrants in the framework of the UN General Assembly High Level Meeting on "Migration of Refugees and Migration".

It was pointed out that last year world leaders approved a number of new commitments to protect migrants and refugees by adopting “The New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants” at high-level meeting of UN General Assembly on «Addressing large movements of refugees and migrants". According to the New York Declaration, IOM, which is recognized at the global level as the leading organization in the field of migration, makes an important contribution to including the experiences of states into the Global Compact for safe, orderly and regular migration. The IOM office in Azerbaijan also carries out commendable activities in this direction.

It was noted that as a result of the work carried out in the field of migration in our country during the past period, measures on regulation of migration processes on the basis of unified and flexible procedures, simplification of documentation, ensuring foreigners' convenience have been expanded.

It was observed that the protection of migrants’ and human rights is a priority in Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan has established a migration management model which can be an example for all countries of the world in terms of good attitude towards migrants and refugees.

It was pointed out that Azerbaijan is a country which has faced mass migration flows since the first years of its independence. More than 1 million Azerbaijanis turned to refugees and internally displaced persons as a result of Armenia’s occupation of Azerbaijani territories. It is true that those people are surrounded with the care of Azerbaijan. Also occupied territories have now turned into a safe haven for terrorists, illegal trafficking and transit of drugs, arms smuggling, human, including children, trafficking, and human organ transplantation. Unfortunately, four resolutions of the UN Security Council on this fact of occupation remain unfulfilled.

Then pilot project on assistance for the voluntary return of migrants from Azerbaijan was presented. “Cooperation Agreement between State Migration Service and International Organization for Migration on Pilot Project on Assistance for the Voluntary Return of Migrants from Azerbaijan” was signed by Director General of IOM William Lacy Swing and Chief of SMS Firudin Nabiyev on December 8, 2016 in Geneva. The agreement was approved with the Decree of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan dated February 23, 2017 and entered into force on March 2, 2017.

A video on “Dignified return, opportunity to return home” was displayed at the event.

After the speeches migrants shared their opinions about their experiences in Azerbaijan.