National Strategy on Human Rights Protection approved

Today, the Government approved the forth National Strategy on Human Rights Protection and the 2020-2022 Action Plan deriving from the Strategy developed by the Ministry of Justice. According to Deputy Minister of Justice Kristinne Grigoryan, the Strategy assesses the current state of human rights and the previous Action Plans and earmarks the main principles and priorities for the next three years.

The Action Plan targets important issues such as the following:

• issues of protection of the right to life of persons who are under state care and persons who have found themselves in life-threatening situations. Firstly, this concerns military servicemen, persons deprived of liberty, persons in closed or semi-closed institutions, as well as victims of domestic violence.
• Actions related to prohibition of torture are aimed at eliminating legislative gaps, strengthening the effective institutional mechanisms for prevention and investigation, ensuring the necessary logistics and building the capacities of those responsible in the sector.
• With regard to protection of the right to fair trial, taking into consideration the fact the Strategy for Judicial and Legal Reforms has already envisaged systemic steps, the actions envisaged by the Action Plan for Human Rights Protection are aimed at strengthening the legislative base for investigative and procedural actions directly related to human rights, improving the practice of collecting evidence, encouraging the adversarial principle in pre-trial proceedings and reinforcing the professional abilities of the key players of proceedings.
• With regard to freedom of assemblies, the main actions are of both legislative and capacity-building nature and are particularly aimed at excluding the use of disproportionate force by the police. Special attention has been paid to the issues of protection of the rights of participants of assemblies and representatives of mass media providing coverage.
• With regard to freedom of information, the Action Plans mainly include actions aimed at improving the legislation on freedom of information. Perhaps the most discussed and urgent actions are the following: it is envisaged to introduce mechanisms for revealing real owners of mass media outlets, which is aimed at ensuring competitiveness of the mass media and transparency of their activities.
• Another important issue is related to the measures to be implemented against hate speech, including study of the mechanisms for liability and the application of those mechanisms also on-line.
• Specific actions are envisaged for raising public awareness about services that are available for maintenance of the right to health, both for early prevention of diseases and improvement of opportunities for persons to protect their rights within the framework of medical aid and services.
• With regard to labour rights, the major actions are related to the issues of working conditions, maintenance of freedoms and rights of workers, as well as the creation of an extra-judicial body for protection of labour rights.
• With regard to the right to education, the integration of fundamental information on human rights in educational curricula, teacher training, access to pre-school educational institutions, as well as the issues related to protection of the rights of children left behind in education, academic integrity, including through improvement of the legislation, have been addressed.
• With regard to protection of the right of ownership, filling the legislative gaps related to the issues of fair compensation in the cases of alienations having taken place for the overriding public interest are targeted.

The Action Plan envisages actions that are also aimed at ensuring legal equality, prohibiting discrimination and protecting different vulnerable groups. Actions aimed at protecting women's rights, protecting children from violence and other actions are envisaged.