CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2024
| Author | Huseynzade, Ilaha |
|---|---|
| Title | Child and Forced Marriages in Azerbaijan: An Analysis of National Legislation and International Commitments |
| Summary | Child and forced marriages are harmful traditional practices prevalent globally and a concerning issue for Azerbaijan. By applying the feminist policy analysis method this thesis aims to reveal the hidden gaps embedded in the national legislation of the Republic of Azerbaijan and its international obligations under ratified conventions on women’s and children’s rights, such as CEDAW and the CRC. Taking into account the history and cultural aspects of child and forced marriages during different periods, as well as factors that further exacerbate the prevalence of these practices, this study conceptualizes legal documents not as separate from social relations, but rather as products of these relations. Using this theoretical perspective, this thesis is the first research that applies a feminist lens to the Azerbaijani legal documents on child and forced marriages. Through feminist analysis, it reveals that although current legislation commits to ensuring gender equality and advocating for women’s and children’s rights to comply with its obligations under international conventions, the implementation of these principles mainly remains symbolic. Furthermore, this thesis analyzes the reasons behind the Azerbaijani state’s reluctance to ratify the Istanbul Convention (2014). This study links this primarily to the absence of the state’s specific budget allocation for gender-related issues which is the key duty of states to fulfill imposed by the convention to effectively implement legal and policy tools outlined in the treaty. Consequently, the state’s lack of success in preventing child and forced marriages is due to the lack of control and cooperation between institutions, as well as the state’s implicit role in creating space for granting exceptions that permit the occurrence of these marriages. Since these areas need to be sufficiently funded to achieve effective results, the state endeavors to avoid ratifying the Istanbul Convention as it could challenge the current national legislation and patriarchal values it upholds. |
| Supervisor | Sachseder, Julia Carolin; Loney, Hannah |
| Department | Gender Studies MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2024/huseynzade_ilaha.pdf |
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