Next session of the Council for Juvenile Justice held

On 8 July, the next session of the Council for Juvenile Justice was held under the direction of Deputy Minister of Justice of the Republic of Armenia Suren Krmoyan.

The Council was established within the scope of the "Improvement of Access to Justice for Children in Armenia" Programme, which is carried out by the Ministry of Justice and UNICEF.

Greeting the participants, Deputy Minister of Justice Suren Krmoyan highly appreciated the activities of the newly established Council and stated that the juvenile justice sector has been a focus of the Ministry of Justice for many years. According to him, the Council has created a platform, the main purpose of which is to make juvenile justice more effective due to joint efforts. 

The Deputy Minister informed that the legislation has been analysed, with the involvement of national and international experts, from the perspective of the protection of children's rights and the development of child-oriented justice and presented the relevant package of recommendations, stressing that national and international experts have drafted a plan for future actions.

During the session, Director of the "Offenders Rehabilitation Centre" SNCO of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Armenia Gayane Hovakimyan presented the programmes carried out by the Centre in 2015, the analysis of the legislation from the perspective of protection of the rights and interests of children and the sector-specific statistics.

During the meeting, Head of the 3rd Unit of the Main Criminal Investigation Department of the Police of the Republic of Armenia Nelly Duryan and Executive Director of the "Children's Support Centre" Foundation Mira Antonyan presented the draft of the Strategy on Prevention of Juvenile Delinquency implemented with the support of the OSCE Office in Yerevan.

Child Protection Officer of the UNICEF in Armenia George Abadjian and Head of the Child Protection Department of the UNICEF in Armenia Hayk Khemchyan gave the members of the Council a detailed presentation of the recommendations and directives of the Child Protection Committee (CPC) for the juvenile justice sector.

At the end of the meeting, the parties reached an initial agreement on ensuring a more active inter-departmental co-operation and co-operation between the State and civil society over issues related to the juvenile justice sector.