Suren Krmoyan participated in circuit session of the Council for Juvenile Justice

Deputy Minister of Justice of the Republic of Armenia Suren Krmoyan participated in the three-day circuit session of the Council for Juvenile Justice launched on 27 October. The session was organised by the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Armenia within the scope of the “Effective Co-ordination, Co-operation and Public Awareness for Improving Access to Justice for Children” Programme, which is being jointly carried out with UNICEF.

According to Suren Krmoyan, the Council has created a platform, the main purpose of which is to make juvenile justice more effective with the help of joint efforts. According to him, when talking about juvenile justice, many confuse it with domestic violence, parent-child relations and other issues. “In reality, juvenile justice implies prevention of juvenile delinquency and addressing on the professional level the problems existing in juvenile justice sector,” the Deputy Minister said.

According to Director of the “Offenders’ Rehabilitation Centre” SNCO of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Armenia Gayane Hovakimyan, taking into consideration the fact that a number of strategies (Strategy for the Protection of the Rights of the Child for 2017-2021, National Strategy on Protection of Human Rights, National Strategy on Prevention of Juvenile Delinquency) are currently being developed with involvement of different government agencies, due to a uniform approach it will be possible to avoid duplication of efforts in the strategies regarding protection of children’s interests.

Through cross-sectoral co-operation, issues relating to formation of complex services for juveniles (victim, witness, person having committed a crime, person serving penalty, person serving penalty not related to punishment) will also be considered during the three-day circuit session of the Council for Juvenile Justice.

Representatives from government agencies, international and non-governmental organisations participate in the session.