Ramila Aslanova
2008 Fellow, Azerbaijan
Ramila works for the Azerbaijan National Committee of the Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly (ANC HCA), established in 1992 to promote peace-building and human rights protection across Azerbaijan. Its activities span the areas of conflict resolution, missing person searches, legal advice and educative work on democracy. It also works to collate information and monitor Trans-caucasus integration, with the aim of building trust between different ethnic communities. The HCA ANC has been involved in the Civil Minsk Process initiative which aims to accelerate the peaceful resolution of the Karabakh conflict by promoting a civic-driven, open and inclusive peace process facilitating greater public participation of the key stakeholders.
Ramila is the International Coordinator for the ANC, responsible for delivering projects in conjunction with international partners. She is currently managing a project called ‘Civil Society Participation in the European Neighbourhood Policy – a Regional Approach to Conflict Resolution’ which, for the first time in Azerbaijan’s history, will bring together civil society and governmental representatives from Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia and Moldova to discuss new alternative solutions to the South Caucasus conflict. Ramila is also a Board Member of the ANC’s Youth Organisation, which offers a variety of programmes aiming to increase dialogue between young people across the region.
The ANC has branches across Azerbaijan and has established five smaller organisations, including the Advisory Council for Free and Fair Elections which monitors the election process, the Karabakh Public Council which seeks to discuss alternative conflict resolution models, and the Committee to Defend the Freedom of Speech set up after the arrest of the Editor of Azerbaijan’s most popular newspaper.
Ramila has recently been awarded a Chevening Scholarship. She will begin her study in the UK in September 2009.
Photo
Ramila gives her ‘action – plan’ presentation at No.11 Downing Street
Contact
If you would like to contact Ramila please write to ramila_33@yahoo.com