Public discussion organised within the scope of EU-Armenia CEPA held with participation of Deputy Minister

On 23 May, a public discussion on the draft roadmap for implementation of justice, freedom and security — deriving from the EU-Armenia Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement — was held with the participation of Deputy Ministers of Justice Vigen Kocharyan and Anna Vardapetyan. The discussion was organised through the joint efforts of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Armenia, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia, the Anti-Corruption Coalition (a member of the Constructive Dialogue Network of Armenian CSOs) and the “Support for Probation” National Network.

In his opening remarks, Deputy Minister Kocharyan greeted the participants of the discussion, stating that only with the decisive role of civil society will it be possible to successfully implement the EU-Armenia Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement, and this is also enshrined by the Agreement.

During the discussion, Vigen Kocharyan informed the participants about the need for the development and adoption, by the Government, of the National Strategy for the Protection of Human Rights and the 2020-2022 Action Plan arising from it and called for active co-operation in this direction. The Deputy Minister also stated that the Ministry of Justice views civil society as a co-author, not as a partner in the development and adoption of the Strategy and Action Plan.

Deputy Minister Anna Vardapetyan expressed gratitude for the first invitation for
co-operation with civil society in this format and presented to the participants of the discussion the course of activities that are being carried out for adoption of the
2019-2023 Strategy for Judicial and Legal Reforms and the Action Plan deriving from it.

This was followed by questions and answers between the participants and the speakers.