Subsequent session of the Council for Juvenile Justice held

On 26 May, Deputy Minister of Justice of the Republic of Armenia Suren Krmoyan participated in the subsequent session of the Council for Juvenile Justice. It was organised by the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Armenia with the support of the United Nations Children's Fund in Armenia.

Suren Krmoyan highly appreciated the close co-operation of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Armenia with the United Nations Children's Fund and noted that the Council has created a platform, the main goal of which is to make juvenile justice more efficient with the help of joint efforts.

During the session, Lecturer of the Justice Academy of the Republic of Armenia T. Poghosyan presented the on-line distance learning course "Protection of minors during criminal proceeding", in the framework of which the key players dealing with the issues of juvenile justice - judges, prosecutors, as well as other employees of the justice system - undergo professional training.

Head of the Civil Status Acts Registration Agency of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Armenia Ani Mkhitaryan touched upon the draft Law of the Republic of Armenia "On proceeding for return of the child wrongfully removed to or retained in the Republic of Armenia" and noted that the main goal of the draft Law is to ensure fulfilment of the liabilities committed under the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction.

According to Ani Mkhitaryan, Armenia is one of the unique member states of the Hague Convention, which carries out the proceeding of abduction through administrative procedure, and emphasised that this would be the main principal amendment to the draft.

According to Mkhitaryan, most of the member states have reserved the making of a decision to return or reject return of the child to the courts, which is, in the legal sense, more justified from the point of view of limitation of the right than application of the same restriction by an administrative body within the framework of an administrative decision.

During the session of the Council for Juvenile Justice, professional training of investigators on the matters of minors, risks for a minor and issues related to the unified approach for needs assessment were considered.

Representatives of government agencies, international and non-governmental organisations participated in the session.