A series of public discussions on draft of the 2019-2023 Strategy for Judicial and Legal Reforms of the Republic of Armenia launches

Today, a series of public discussions on the draft of the 2019-2023 Strategy for Judicial and Legal Reforms was launched with the participation of Deputy Ministers of Justice Anna Vardapetyan and Kristinne Grigoryan.

The roundtable discussion was held within the scope of the “Support to the judicial reform — enhancing the independence and professionalism of the judiciary in Armenia’’ project (Project), funded by the European Union and the Council of Europe within the frame of the programme format of the Partnership for Good Governance (PGG), and implemented by the Council of Europe, in co-operation with the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Armenia. The event was aimed at discussing the draft Strategy, as well as promoting the dialogue between the representatives from civil society organisations and the policy-makers in the justice sector.

The roundtable discussion consisted of an opening ceremony and five plenary discussions, during which the directions of the draft Strategy were discussed. The two Deputy Ministers of Justice touched upon the issues of the representatives from civil society organisations related to the draft Strategy, and delivered speeches.

In her opening speech Deputy Minister Anna Vardapetyan, greeting the representatives of the discussion, presented the objectives and directions of the draft Strategy.

Specifying the objectives of the Strategy, Deputy Minister Vardapetyan touched upon the creation of an electronic justice platform, strengthening of the rule of law through the transitional justice toolkit, implementation of the constitutional reforms, reforming of the electoral legislation, increasing of the accountability and ensuring of the transparency of the judiciary, as well as upon the introduction of alternative dispute settlement mechanisms, increasing of the effectiveness of the notary, advocacy systems and of the compulsory enforcement service.

Touching upon the introduction of the transitional justice toolkit, the Deputy Minister emphasised the idea of establishing a Fact-Finding Commission, whose activities would be aimed at studying the cases of corruption schemes, investigation of cases of military servants deceased in non-combat conditions and of cases of expropriation for public interest in the period between 1991 and 2018. As a result of conclusions to be made on the basis of offences being disclosed, the Commission will present report-recommendations aimed at introducing preventive mechanisms for the purpose of excluding the repetition of offences. The Deputy Minister also emphasised that the main purpose of the activities of the Commission will be aimed at establishing the public conciliation.

Summing up her speech, the Deputy Minister urged to actively engage in the discussions, attaching importance to the potential of civil society and professional experience in having a more developed Strategy.

 In her opening speech, Mrs Lilit Daneghian, Head of the Justice Sector Reform Unit of the Legal Cooperation Department of the Directorate General Human Rights and Rule of Law of the Council of Europe, greeted the implementation of the event and emphasised that the Project continues to direct its efforts to support the strengthening of the rule-of-law state in Armenia and the development of the policies and legal acts in compliance with the standards of the Council of Europe. Mrs Lilit Daneghian noted that it is very important to share best practices of the Member States of the Council of Europe for complying the draft Strategy with the standards of the Council of Europe.

The discussion has yielded the following results:

• the level of awareness of the representatives from civil society organisations on the objectives of the draft Strategy and the agenda of legal and judicial reforms was raised;
• the main strategic directions and priority reforms prescribed by the draft Strategy were presented and discussed;
• the legal and practical solutions defined for achieving the reforms recommended by the draft Strategy were discussed.

Today[T1] , a series of public discussions on the draft of the 2019-2023 Strategy for Judicial and Legal Reforms was launched with the participation of Deputy Ministers of Justice Anna Vardapetyan and Kristinne Grigoryan. The roundtable discussion was held within the scope of the “Support to the judicial reform — enhancing the independence and professionalism of the judiciary in Armenia’’ project (Project), funded by the European Union and the Council of Europe within the frame of the programme format of the Partnership for Good Governance (PGG), and implemented by the Council of Europe, in co-operation with the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Armenia. The event was aimed at discussing the draft Strategy, as well as promoting the dialogue between the representatives from civil society organisations and the policy-makers in the justice sector. The roundtable discussion consisted of an opening ceremony and five plenary discussions, during which the directions of the draft Strategy were discussed. The two Deputy Ministers of Justice touched upon the issues of the representatives from civil society organisations related to the draft Strategy, and delivered speeches. In her opening speech Deputy Minister Anna Vardapetyan, greeting the representatives of the discussion, presented the objectives and directions of the draft Strategy. Specifying the objectives of the Strategy, Deputy Minister Vardapetyan touched upon the creation of an electronic justice platform, strengthening of the rule of law through the transitional justice toolkit, implementation of the constitutional reforms, reforming of the electoral legislation, increasing of the accountability and ensuring of the transparency of the judiciary, as well as upon the introduction of alternative dispute settlement mechanisms, increasing of the effectiveness of the notary, advocacy systems and of the compulsory enforcement service. Touching upon the introduction of the transitional justice toolkit, the Deputy Minister emphasised the idea of establishing a Fact-Finding Commission, whose activities would be aimed at studying the cases of corruption schemes, investigation of cases of military servants deceased in non-combat conditions and of cases of expropriation for public interest in the period between 1991 and 2018. As a result of conclusions to be made on the basis of offences being disclosed, the Commission will present report-recommendations aimed at introducing preventive mechanisms for the purpose of excluding the repetition of offences. The Deputy Minister also emphasised that the main purpose of the activities of the Commission will be aimed at establishing the public conciliation. Summing up her speech, the Deputy Minister urged to actively engage in the discussions, attaching importance to the potential of civil society and professional experience in having a more developed Strategy. In her opening speech, Mrs Lilit Daneghian, Head of the Justice Sector Reform Unit of the Legal Cooperation Department of the Directorate General Human Rights and Rule of Law of the Council of Europe, greeted the implementation of the event and emphasised that the Project continues to direct its efforts to support the strengthening of the rule-of-law state in Armenia and the development of the policies and legal acts in compliance with the standards of the Council of Europe. Mrs Lilit Daneghian noted that it is very important to share best practices of the Member States of the Council of Europe for complying the draft Strategy with the standards of the Council of Europe.

The discussion has yielded the following results:

• the level of awareness of the representatives from civil society organisations on the objectives of the draft Strategy and the agenda of legal and judicial reforms was raised;
• the main strategic directions and priority reforms prescribed by the draft Strategy were presented and discussed;
• the legal and practical solutions defined for achieving the reforms recommended by the draft Strategy were discussed.

 [T1]Վերևի նորության բովանդակության կրկնություն: