Statement of the Ministry of Justice on the issue of reducing judges’ pensions

The Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs has put into circulation the draft Law of the Republic of Armenia "On making supplements to the Law of the Republic of Armenia "On the ensuring, servicing of and social guarantees for the activities of officials"". Several mass media outlets have already touched upon the draft Law, noting that this will reduce the pensions of judges. The Ministry of Justice declares that it still has not received the draft posted by the partnering Ministry on the unified website for publication of draft legal acts (www.e-draft.am).

Nevertheless, the Ministry of Justice emphasises that setting high-rate pensions for retired judges is not a privilege for them, but a tool for protecting public interests and, first and foremost, the interests of justice interests, as well as a social guarantee for their independence. This approach underlies paragraph 6.4 of the European Charter on the Statute for Judges, adopted in 1998, according to which: "The statute ensures that judges are paid a retirement pension, the level of which must be as close as possible to the level of their final salary as a judge”. The mentioned requirement is also consistent with part 2 of Article 57 of the Judicial Code of the Republic of Armenia, according to which: "The amount of pension (...) a judge may not be reduced, except for the cases when those of all high-ranking officials are equivalently reduced".