Session of Co-ordinating Council for 2017-2019 Action Plan arising from the National Strategy on Human Rights Protection was held

The subsequent session of the Co-ordinating Inter-agency Council for the 2017-2019 Action Plan arising from the National Strategy on Human Rights Protection was held today under the chairmanship of Minister of Justice Artak Zeynalyan.

In his opening speech, Minister Zeynalyan greeted the members of the Council and presented the agenda of the session. As Chairman of the Co-ordinating Council, Artak Zeynalyan presented some observations deriving from the 2017-2019 Action Plan arising from the National Strategy on Human Rights Protection, urging the members of the Co-ordinating Council to ensure publicity of the reports of relevant state bodies on the official websites of those state bodies. Making a reference to point 96 of the Action Plan, Minister Zeynalyan noted that during the sessions of the public councils adjunct to the Minister, the progress of implementation of the Action Plan must be addressed, and in relation to this, he also urged all the officials responsible to address, during the session of the public councils, the implementation of the actions falling within their competence and to discuss with the representatives of the public councils the risks having emerged. Artak Zeynalyan also touched upon the fact that the Action Plan for 2017-2019 should be reviewed by the end of 2018 through dialogue with civil society representatives. In this context, Minister Zeynalyan informed the members of the Council that the Ministry of Justice has already applied to all interested NGOs for the purpose of receiving their written recommendations; in the meantime, the Ministry of Justice urges the representatives of other agencies to be active in this process, submit new recommendations, as well as review, if necessary, the content of the actions and the time period for implementation of those actions, with regard to the sphere of their competence.

 Artak Zeynalyan also touched upon the requirement of conducting public discussions, enshrined by the decision of the Government, in execution of which Minister Zeynalyan informed the attendees that the Ministry of Justice envisages organising, during November, a public discussion during which the recommendations for reviewing the Action Plan will be considered with the participation of representatives of the private sector. Afterwards, according to the agenda of the session, members of the Co-ordinating Council presented the executive of the actions envisaged for the third and fourth quarters of 2018.

The executive of the Ministry of Justice was presented by Deputy Minister Vigen Kocharyan, followed by the reports of the representations of other agencies and a question-and-answer session during which members of the Council asked their questions and received answers to those questions.