On October 31, 2023, the State Committee for Family, Women and Children Affairs and the Supreme Court of the Republic of Azerbaijan jointly organized a round table on "Implementation of legislation on domestic violence".

 Mrs.Bahar Muradova, the Chair of the State Committee, who greeted the participants, drew attention to the importance of the discussed topic and said that domestic violence is one of the important issues on the agenda of the whole world.

She noted that, in addition to prevention of violence, protection of victims' rights and improvement of legislative practice in this field, such discussions allow to eliminate obstacles encountered in judicial practice.

Stating that information on the implementation of Article 20 of the AR Law "On Guarantees of Gender (Men and Women) Equality" will be presented in the Milli Majlis, the chairman added that this report also includes information on Domestic Violence. She drew attention to the statistical figures reflected in the information prepared by the Committee on domestic violence for 2022, and also voiced suggestions for improving the legislation related to court proceedings.

Stating that the prevention of domestic violence is an important issue, Mr. Hafiz Nasibov, the Chairman of the Supreme Court's Criminal Board, thanked for bringing up the important topic of considering criminal cases in this direction. H. Nasibov, noting that the court practice related to domestic violence has been summarized, drew attention to the facts and statistical indicators of the analyzed criminal cases and provided extensive information. The head of the collegium analyzed the current situation of the court proceedings on the criminal prosecution of domestic violence and voiced the problems. In the end, H. Nasibov noted the importance of combining the efforts of relevant institutions in the field of combating the mentioned problem, and expressed the hope that the current meeting will be useful and will contribute to the common work.

Mr. Alasgar Novruzov, the judge of the Criminal Division of the Supreme Court, said that domestic violence is an issue that is condemned, not accepted, and seriously fought all over the world. When looking at the legislation, he said that the scope of the subject of domestic violence is wide, and speaking about the cases of domestic violence that are widespread in the society, he voiced his suggestions in the direction of the fight.

Mr. Zaur Hajiyev, the judge of Sumgayit city court and Mrs. Shafa Jamalzadeh, the Bar Association member who participated in the discussion, compared international and national legislation on domestic violence and talked about the existing difficulties and possible preventive measures to combat the problem.

Mrs. Sadagat Kahramanova, the Deputy Chairof the committee, noted the elimination of gaps in the legislation regarding the mandatory conduct of educational and preventive work with the perpetrators of domestic violence. Mrs. Jeyran Rahmatullayeva, the chief of staff of the committee, drew attention to the fact that the requirements of the Lanzarote Convention "on the prevention of sexual violence and sexual exploitation of children" are taken into account in court practice.

The round table discussion continued with the participation of judges of Baku, Sumgayit city and Absheron district courts and members of the Bar Association.