The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) is the world’s largest international organization after the United Nations, currently comprising 120 members spanning all four corners of the globe. For the past years, Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev held the chairperson’s position.

On Monday and Tuesday, Baku hosted the first high-level conference on "Advancing the Rights and Empowerment of Women," where participants reached a noteworthy consensus on a final declaration, emphasizing its significance in our increasingly uncertain and unstable world.

A quick look at the origins of NAM provides insights into the broader positive political implications of such a vast international body. To ensure all countries concerned agree on how they are presented to a global audience it makes sense to employ the objective scientific advice as published by Encyclopaedia Britannica under the header NAM. "The Non-Aligned Movement emerged in the context of the wave of decolonization that followed World War II. At the 1955 Bandung Conference (the Asian-African Conference), the attendees, many of whose countries had recently gained their independence, called for abstention from the use of arrangements of collective defense (sic!) to serve the particular interests on any of the big powers (...) and should instead join together in support of national self-determination against all forms of colonialism and imperialism," according to Britannica.

The current NAM was founded six years later and held its first conference in Belgrade in the year 1961.

Encyclopaedia Britannica then continues by explaining "As a condition for membership, the states of the Non-Aligned Movement cannot be part of a multilateral military alliance such as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) or have signed a bilateral military agreement with one of the 'big powers' if it was 'deliberately concluded in the context of Great Power conflicts.' However, the idea of nonalignment does not signify that a state ought to remain passive or even neutral in international politics. On the contrary, from the founding of the Non-Aligned Movement, its stated aim has been to give a voice to developing countries and to encourage their concerted action in world affairs."

Uganda's reflections highlight world’s shortcomings

Ms. Amongi Betty Ongom, minister of Gender, Labor and Social Development in Uganda, gave a fascinating insight into what might just as well be labeled as the three overarching obstacles faced by women worldwide, of course, to varying degrees according to NAM member states. They are women’s participation in politics, access to justice and child marriages. The speaker also underlined that with regard to the first point and in her country currently, 45% of all national ministers are women.

Departing from the minister's comments and trying to build a bridge between NAM member states and the rest of the world we should distinguish three levels of access – access to education, access to the labor market and access to power in more general terms.

Azerbaijan’s consideration

President Aliyev addressed the conference participants by means of a readout and a printed welcome message. Focusing on the achievements of NAM and his own country and to quote one example, Azerbaijan's President said, with regard to the past global COVID-19 situation, "We did not remain silent in the face of the policy of vaccine nationalism pursued by some countries and encouraged fair vaccine distribution."

"Azerbaijan has also devoted special attention to the decolonization agenda. We have globally exposed the neo-colonial policy pursued by some countries, in particular by France, and demanded to put an end to this shameful practice," he added.

Highlighting Azerbaijan’s manifold previous and current societal achievements Aliyev said: "Invaluable contribution by women to public, political, social and humanitarian aspects of life, including the development of science and literacy, is undeniable. Throughout the centuries, Azerbaijani women have always been at the forefront of preserving our rich culture, traditions, and family values and raising a generation attached to their national roots. The first secular school for girls in the Muslim world was inaugurated in Baku back in 1901. Azerbaijan was the first Republic in the Muslim world to grant women the right to vote in 1919, surpassing most European countries."

Stressing today’s reality, he also mentioned that "women account for 63% of the professional staff in higher education institutions. (Some) 70% of the medical personnel in public health care facilities are women. Women’s representatives in the local self-governing bodies are at 40%. The number of women entrepreneurs is growing thanks to the measures within the state-supported self-employment programs."

Access to power

Returning to the statement made by the minister from Uganda and the related comments made by the author of this opinion page contribution thereafter, it appears that access to education, access to the labor market, and access to power in more general terms are indeed what tops the agenda before we can really speak about and of a world with equal rights shared between men and women. Much needs to be done, and it was very encouraging to witness that many delegates in Baku were actually men.

Hence, changing the way we approach the subject of education – is it a privilege to attend various layers of obtaining a good education from primary to secondary and then tertiary levels or is it a human right? Hence, we learned that in a majority of countries around the world, education is taken for granted, as a right, whilst in others it is still not standard, hence a privilege indeed should parents manage to afford it.

Then there are nations where women are still not welcome regarding earning a living or at least contributing to the family’s regular income; husbands prefer their wives to raise the children and stay at home. In order to achieve equality women should never be forced to engage in paid employment but must be given the right to do so in safe and humane conditions and that includes equal pay! The issue of equal pay is something even ‘developed’ nations often sideline, women earn less in many countries per se.

Finally, the power dimension. Enabling women to have access to power starts from being able to go to work via being able to obtain a higher degree to running for parliament or a presidency indeed. As the conference agreed on a detailed Final Declaration, this issue found its way into it rather prominently as point 2, stating "reaffirm the commitment to ensuring representation and full, equal and meaningful participation of women in all facets of society, and underline the particular importance of promoting equal participation of women in the political systems of NAM Member States."

During the Baku conference, Türkiye's Family and Social Services Deputy Minister Leman Yenigün (Türkiye attended High-Level Meetings since 2006 in the capacity of Guest Country) added a further dimension by explaining that Türkiye operates according to the system of "zero tolerance" with regards to combating violence against women. She introduced "the Alo 183" service hotline for women in need of urgent help.

Yenigün's concerns duly found their way into another point of the final declaration by stating that "reiterate our firm commitment to join efforts and continue combating all forms of violence against women, until its complete elimination, recognizing the importance of engaging men and boys." (Final Declaration point four)

Yet she, too, reiterated her belief that access to education is the key to (almost) everything in this context.

On the second day, her point was once again reiterated by the Ugandan minister who told the audience that if we continue to give dolls to girls, and high-tech gadgets to boys as presents, gender imbalance and misperceptions start at a very early age.

Both Azerbaijan and Türkiye are frontrunners with regards to women’s rights but as with anything else, there is always room at the top so to speak. Congratulations to the organizers and please let us not shelve the successful proceedings as is the case as mentioned earlier in this article with far too many protocol events; the topic is far too crucial for the ever more harmonious continuation of our civil societies.