Baku, August 14, AZERTAC
In order to ensure the access of citizens to the judiciary, to inform regularly them about the activities of the judiciary, the work of wide use of opportunities of both of civil society representatives and the media, as well as the official websites and social networks of the Ministry of Justice is continued. From this point of view, the live broadcast of the Ministry's official Facebook page on various activities of the judiciary during the special quarantine regime in the implementation of the President's instructions also plays an important role in legal education of the population.
AZERTAC reports that, as part of a series of measures taken in this direction, on August 14, the Ministry of Justice organized an online public discussion on "State Registration of Civil Status Acts."
Aynur Sabitova, Head of the Human Rights and Public Relations Department of the Ministry of Justice, Reyhana Karimova, Head of the Civil Status Acts Registry Service of the Ministry and Rashida Manafova, Head of the Registration Department of the Ministry of Justice at the Baku ASAN Service Center No. 1, taking part in the public discussion, gave detailed information about justice activity and organization of work, spoke about the activities of the structures executing civil status acts in the country and registry offices in the "ASAN service" centers.
It was noted that during the pandemic, the ministry provides legal assistance to citizens in all areas of activity using innovations and information and communication tools. All these are aimed at ensuring the satisfaction of citizens and providing decent justice service to the population.
It was noted that, the state registration of civil status acts plays an important role in the protection of human rights, implementation of social protection programs, ensuring public health, and many other important legal and sociological procedures in society. Every person applies to the registry offices for the state registration of civil status acts throughout his life. These acts are carried out by the district (city) registry offices of the Ministry of Justice, the consular offices of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs abroad and the representations of the executive authorities. At present, 104 registry offices and marriage houses of the Ministry of Justice are engaged in this activity. In particular, there are registry offices of the Ministry of Justice in 5 "ASAN service" centers in Baku and 15 in different regions of Azerbaijan. Registration and dissolution of births, marriages, determination of paternity, adoption, change of name, surname, patronymic, state registration of
death and other operations are carried out by the relevant registration departments of the Ministry of Justice.
It was reported that, in order to register the birth, citizens must apply to the registry offices of the ministry. In addition, every citizen who applies online at the registry office of the Ministry of Justice at the Baku "ASAN service" center No. 1 can benefit from all the services provided at the registry office. According to the legislation, the state registration of births is determined within a month. At present, birth registration is made in automated form. In case of birth fact, the information is automatically transferred by the Ministry of Health to the State Register of Population under the Ministry of Justice and the child is given an individual identification number (IIN) that is not repeated automatically and does not change until the end of life. This gives grounds to identify children, to identify those whose births were not registered within the period established by law, to invite parents to the registration office by sending a notice on the mandatory state registration of births, and to bring those who evade registration to administrative responsibility. In addition, employees of registry offices go to maternity hospitals and organize mobile registration of births. The mother is given a birth certificate without leaving the maternity hospital. Last year, 3,474 births were registered, and in the first six months of this year, 920 births were registered on a mobile basis.
A number of activities are being carried out in the field of identification and registration of children born at home, awareness-raising activities are being carried out, and legal assistance is being provided to citizens. In the first six months of 2020, 83 such children were born at home. This figure was 148 in 2019. 139 of them were documented, and the parents of others were provided with legal assistance in determining the fact of birth. Employees of the registration department for unregistered children are raising awareness among the population about the importance of birth registration in the regions, and legal assistance has been provided to parents in the field of relevant documentation.
It was noted that parents face difficulties in choosing a name for their children. Giving and changing of name, surname, patronymic is regulated by the relevant decision of the Cabinet of Ministers. According to this decision, there are restrictions on giving ridiculous names that are harmful to the interests of the child, inappropriate for the sex. The application of these restrictions makes it possible to prevent the naming of names that do not comply with the norms of the Azerbaijani literary language. One of the rights and responsibilities of the registration department is to provide explanations and recommendations to the parents who apply for the names chosen for their children. A search system has been set up in the e-services section of the Ministry's official website to get information about
Azerbaijani names, their origins and explanations, the level of dissemination among the population and other information in order to help parents choose names for their children.
It was noted that, most citizens apply to the registry offices of the Ministry of Justice in the "ASAN service" centers for birth and marriage. They are registered and respond is provided to the citizens. In addition, e-services are posted in the public services section of the Ministry of Justice's website. Citizens can apply for state registration of civil status acts electronically.
It was noted that the issue of state registration of marriages is always in the focus of the leadership of the Ministry of Justice. Employees of the registration department of the Ministry identify persons in informal marriages in the regions, explain to them their rights and responsibilities, and then accept applications and register their marriages. As a result, 1,391 couples registered their marriages in 2019 and 454 in the first six months of 2020.
Ceremonial weddings during the pandemic have also been postponed. Conditions have been created in the registration offices for the registration of solemn marriages. Marriages of applicants are registered in the rooms created here. Due to the health of the applicants, the number of participants was limited.
During the public discussion, it was also reported that the Ministry of Justice has recently taken preventive measures on increase of the dynamics of divorce. In this regard, psychologists were involved in the registration departments. Those who apply to the registry office for divorce are offered to see a psychologist. After these meetings, some citizens refused to dissolve the marriage. As a result of this work, there is a decrease in the dynamics of divorce. Achieving reconciliation of families can be considered a great success of the Ministry of Justice and gives impetus to further expand activities in this area.
In the online public discussion also the questions from social network users on adoption, age of marriage, paternity, marriage with foreigners and on other issues were answered.
