Gender supplements will be made to the Journalist's Ethical Rules.

Baku / 03.10.18 / Turan: Supplements will be made to the Professional Ethical Rules of Azerbaijani journalists, which can be reflected in the laws "On the Media" and other laws of the country related to the press. The changes are initiated by the Council of Europe, which proposed to the Press Council of Azerbaijan to take into account European trends in anti-sexism and gender equality, Aflatun Amashev, head of the Press Council, said at a roundtable with the CE Baku Office on the theme: "Project of gender equality and press freedom in Azerbaijan."

Collaboration on the project began in March 2018. A working group consisting of Azerbaijani lawyers and journalists proposed to add four points to the Rules of Professional Ethics. The first paragraph requires journalists not to accept gender inequality, not to indicate the gender of the publication"s hero, if the information is not of key importance.

The second paragraph requires journalists to combat gender discrimination. The third paragraph points out the importance of a sensitive attitude of journalists to gender-related issues when covering a problem in the press, prohibits a positive attitude towards gender-based violence and reinforces the rejection by society of gender inequality. The fourth point concerns gender equality in the editorial offices of the media.

This project was discussed at the Round Table, and its final version will be adopted by the Press Council and will serve as a pilot option for other countries, as Azerbaijani journalists will be the first in Europe whose ethical code has been changed to reflect these additions, Ambassador Zoltan Hernyes, Head of the Council of Europe Office in Baku, said.

The project is supported by the Ombudsman"s Office of Azerbaijan, it remains to work out measures for its implementation, said the head of the Office Aydin Safihanly.

The urgency of the changes to the Code of Ethics is caused by the existence of gender inequality among Azerbaijani journalists, said Deputy Chairman of the Press Council Mushvig Aleskerli.

There are 40-45% of journalists and media workers in Azerbaijan (30% in the world), but the leaders and founders of the media are 85-90% men.

Comments and supplements of the participants of the Round Table were heard on Skype by the expert of the Council of Europe, Jelena Surculija Milojevic, who explained the reason that some European demands to ban sexism were not reflected in the Azerbaijani Professional Ethics project. There are no gender differences in nouns and adjectives in the Azerbaijani language, so there is no sexism, an unreasonable underlining of the sex difference in texts and speeches. "In Europe, there is also the problem of gender inequality in the media," said an expert from Belgrade, recalling how the BBC editor quit because her salary was lower than the editor"s - men. -0--