Deputy committee chairman: "Imbalance in sex ratio among children is a kind of violence"

Baku. 19 October. REPORT.AZ/ "Today imbalance in sex ratio among newborns is a relevant problem in a number of countries, including Azerbaijan," said deputy chairman of the State Committee for Family, Women and Children Affairs Sadagat Gahramanova.

Report informs that she was speaking during the presentation of the draft National Action Plan on Prevention and Elimination of Gender-biased Sex Selection.

He noted that one of the problems in family relations is the gender-based discriminative attitude to children: "Violation of women's rights and gender-based violence are among the main issues facing the humanity. Imbalance in sex ratio among children is a kind of violence. A crime is committed against unborn girls and their rights are violated."

"The number of men has risen dramatically in the past 25 years. Thus, men constitute 49.9% and women 51.1% of the population. In the rural areas there is a need for raising awareness among women on the issues of family planning, protection from undesired pregnancy, artificial insemination and other awareness works. Analyses show that killing of unborn girls is linked to the unwillingness to have more than the children in the family. In contemporary families, if the first child is a girl, the parents want to have a boy as a second child," Gahramanova added.