Azerbaijan: Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women Urges Action
Thursday, January 9, 2014 4:35 PM

During her 10-day mission, the United Nations Special Rapporteur found violence against women to be a widespread issue in Azerbaijan, but the extent was difficult to assess because of a lack of reliable data and underreporting, among other things. The Special Rapporteur critiqued the lack of enforcement of adopted laws and policies, and suggested prosecuting not only the perpetrator, but also those who fail in their duty to respond to acts of violence.
The Special Rapporteur reported being extremely concerned with gender-related killings in the country, and also noted issues relating to trafficking of women for commercial sexual exploitation, early, forced, and unregistered marriages, forced labor, and the particular vulnerabilities of women and girls in internally displaced communities.