The roundtable on "Protection of the rights of the minors in audiovisual media" was organized

The roundtable on "Protection of the rights of the minors in audiovisual media" was held on May 30, 2023 under the organization of the Audiovisual Council of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

The Head of the Office of the Audiovisual Council Fazil Novruzov opening the event with an introductory speech told about the event organized on the eve of June 1 – International Children's Day, noting that the first event on this topic had been held on May 23 with representatives of regional broadcasters in the city of Ganja. He noted that the formation of our children as worthy citizens is one of the priorities of the Azerbaijani media, the work done and the upcoming work serves precisely this high level.

Then the roundtable continued its work with speeches. Aykhan Sadigli, representative of the Audiovisual Council informed participants that a number of provisions of the Law of the Republic of Azerbaijan "On Media" are aimed exclusively at protecting the rights of minors. He also spoke in detail about the types of information harmful to minors and the age classification of information products.

Aykhan Sadigli also added that a number of targeted state programs and national action plans approved by the head of state are aimed at development in the protection of the rights and interests of minors, the formation, regulation, implementation of a unified state child policy, ensuring the necessary standard of living for the physical, mental, spiritual, moral and social development of children. One of such programs is the "Action Plan for the Implementation of the Strategy for Children 2020-2025". One of the main executive bodies in this Action Plan is the Audiovisual Council of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

Sevil Rasulzadeh, senior adviser of the Department of Information and Analytical Researches of the State Committee for Family, Women and Children Affairs, spoke about malicious messages spread on social media platforms and become a potential threat, especially to minors.

Sabina Seyidova, head of the Department of the Media Development Agency of the Republic of Azerbaijan, spoke on protecting the rights of minors in broadcast content on the background of the rating struggle between TV channels, and talked about the work done to improve the professionalism of journalists in this direction.

At the event, the chairman of the Public Association "Support for Innovative Education of Women and Children", deputy chairman of the Public Council under the State Committee for Family, Women and Children Affairs Aynur Zulfugarova talked on the topic of child evasion from education. She drew attention to the need to educate parents in the direction of solving this problem.

Then Kamala Ashumova, the Executive Director of the Public Association "Social Initiatives of the Future" spoke to the participants. She spoke about violations of minors' rights in the media and stressed the importance of journalists being attentive to these issues.

The representatives of audiovisual media entities participated in the meeting also made suggestions and comments related to this topic.