With the support of the Embassy of Azerbaijan, the Turkish-Azerbaijani Women’s Society will hold next Monday a European Forum on Forced Expulsion and Refugees: Women’s rights violations related to deportation at the Westin Palace Hotel, starting at 10 am.
The conference will feature extensive discussions on the state of the refugee crisis, legal frameworks and international obligations stemming from the issue, innovative approaches to address the challenges faced by refugees, protection and integration strategy, among other important topics and an opportunity to assess the case of Azerbaijan.
The conference will feature keynote speeches, panel discussions and presentations, thus connecting scholars, activists, policy makers and practitioners in the human rights sector. In addition to that, the event will be joined by the famous photographer Reza Deghati with a photo exhibition of refugees and internally displaced persons (Azerbaijan case).
At 9.30 a.m., registration and welcome coffee will take place, followed by welcome speeches by Tanzila Rustamkhanli, President of the Turkish-Azerbaijani Women’s Society, and Ramiz Hasanov, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Permanent Representative to the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO). Keynote speeches will be delivered by Sabir Rustamkhanli, Member of the National Assembly of Azerbaijan, Co-Chair of the World Congress of Azerbaijanis, national poet, writer and playwright; Ryszard Czarnecki, Member of the European Parliament (Poland), 2014-2019 Vice-President of the European Parliament (video message); and Reza Deghati, artist, photographer, visual storyteller, philanthropist (visual presentation).
The forum will be structured in two panels: First, European perspective on the refugee crisis: Challenges and possible solutions through international cooperation, with speakers Samuel Doveri Vesterbye, Director General of the European Neighbourhood Council; Koert Debeuf, Distinguished Assistant Professor at the Brussels School of Governance, former advisor to the Prime Minister of Belgium; Antonio Alonso Marcos, Professor at the San Pablo CEU University of Madrid (expert on issues related to Security and Justice in the European Union), and Elena Díaz Galán, Associate Professor of International Public Law and International Relations at the Rey Juan Carlos University. And secondly, Azerbaijan’s experience in forced expulsion and refugee crisis, with the speakers Tanzila Rustamkhanli, President of the Turkish-Azerbaijani Women’s Society; Aziz Alakbarli, Member of the National Assembly of Azerbaijan, President of the Board of the West Azerbaijan Community; Carlos Uriarte Sánchez, Secretary General of Paneuropa-Spain, Member of the International Presidency Council, and Agil Alasgar, Member of the Board of the Azerbaijan Press Council. The closing remarks will be given by Aydan Rustamkhanli-Jafarova, Vice-President of the Turkish-Azerbaijani Women’s Society, with an appeal to the international community in the face of the refugee crisis and a statement on the conclusions of the European Forum.
