On 30 June 2020 the European Union Delegation to Azerbaijan announced that Lithuanian institutions together with Austrian colleagues were awarded the contract to implement EU Twinning Project “Strengthening the capacity of State bodies and local level referral mechanisms to provide safety and support to victims of domestic violence in Azerbaijan”.
The leading member state in the project is Lithuanian Ministry of Social Security and Labour which will be co-operating with Vilnius University, the Law Institute of Lithuania under the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Lithuania, European Social Fund Agency and Austrian Institute of Human Rights (BIM), acting as the Junior project partner. Vilnius University is represented by VU Faculty of Law scholars in the project.
The overall objective of the project is to strengthen capacity of the Azerbaijani State bodies and local level referral mechanisms to provide safety and support to the victims of domestic violence, to develop networks and strengthen inter-agency cooperation, provide specific trainings for the social workers, judges, journalists how to address issues related to the domestic violence and to carry awareness raising campaign on increasing understandings of gender equality and the VAW &DV.
Project budget – 1 million EUR, foreseen duration – 14 months.
Considering the restrictions on movement caused by COVID-19 pandemic the start of the project is foreseen from 1 September 2020.