Azerbaijani official: Constitutional Control Institute plays important role in protecting human rights

Today, the Azerbaijani Constitutional Control Institute plays an important role in protecting human rights and freedoms, Azerbaijani First Deputy Parliamentary Speaker Ziyafet Askerov said at the conference on "The constitutional mechanisms for protecting human rights and freedoms" devoted to the fifteenth anniversary of the Azerbaijani Constitution in Baku today.

"I think that the Constitutional Court and the Ombudsman, as well as the court instances, did much in terms of developing human rights and freedoms in Azerbaijan," he said. "Azerbaijan formed a solid legal base for protecting the rights and freedoms in our country, adopting laws on the protection of human rights and freedoms, and joined different conventions."

The Constitution was adopted in 1995 - the first such document for independent Azerbaijan.

The first independent Azerbaijan - the Azerbaijani Democratic Republic - existed only 23 months from 1918 to 1920 and had no such sweeping legislative document. As a result, the history of Azerbaijan's Constitution dates mainly to the country's time as a Soviet republic.

After Azerbaijan received independence, the necessity arose to develop a new Constitution. A commission headed by former President Heydar Aliyev was established with this aim. A draft document was presented via referendum and independent Azerbaijan's first Constitution was adopted on Nov. 12, 1995.

Ever since, Azerbaijan has celebrated Nov. 12 as the Constitution Day. Askerov that the Constitutional Control Institute plays an important role in protecting political, economic, cultural and other rights of citizens.

"Being a member of the Council of Europe and other international organizations, Azerbaijan is taking significant steps in improving the legal protection system," he added.

Independent Azerbaijan's first Constitution was the basis of the country's foundation after the fall of the Soviet Union. The document composes five sections, 12 chapters and 158 articles.

Amendments and additions to the Constitution were first made via referendum on Aug. 24, 2002 and most recently on March 18, 2009. In 2002, 31 additions and amendments were injected into 22 articles of the Constitution and 41 additions and amendments to 29 articles in 2009.


/Trend/