Rustam Badasyan remotely participated in St. Petersburg International Legal Forum

On 10 April, at the invitation of the Minister of Justice of the Russian Federation, Minister of Justice Rustam Badasyan participated in the St. Petersburg International Legal Forum, which was held remotely and was devoted to the legal regulations conditioned by the coronavirus.

During the open meeting of the Ministers of Justice entitled "Public Administration and Legislation" of the session of the annual forum, greeting the participants, Rustam Badasyan, extended thanks to his Russian counterpart for this initiative and for the invitation. Rustam Badasyan also stated that, among other states, the Government of the Republic of Armenia also tries to develop effective countermeasures, as well as improve and apply them in the fight against the pandemic that has plagued the world.

Rustam Badasyan conditionally divided the measures taken by different governments into two groups: countries that, due to the state of emergency, only apply widespread strict restrictions, and countries that, along with conventional measures, use technological solutions to control and manage the potential scope of isolation of infected persons and spread of the virus.

The Minister stated that Armenia is one of the countries that has a rather high level of personal data protection and has also applied technological solutions preventing the spread of the coronavirus, along with the standard measures. Introducing the participants of the forum to all the legal justifications and technical restrictions for technological intervention aimed at preventing the spread of the virus in Armenia, Badasyan emphasised that the justifications and restrictions were developed and are being applied in observance of the standards for protection of human rights and data protection, as well as the principle of rule of law and proportionality of any other restriction.

Another session of the forum that Minister Badasyan participated in was devoted to human rights under quarantine.

In his speech during the session, Minister Badasyan stated that the restrictions on certain human rights and fundamental freedoms throughout Europe are spreading as fast as the virus itself and that it is obvious that human rights protection and the rule of law must serve as the principle of the activities of governments in this period as never before.

Rustam Badasyan introduced the participants of the session and those following the forum remotely to the special measures that the Government of the Republic of Armenia is applying in the context of prevention of the novel coronavirus according to chronology.

In his speech, the Minister stated that the proportionality and necessity of the measures applied by the Government are based on the realistic assessment of the situation.

In this context, he also touched upon the international standards, particularly the fact that, amid the state of emergency, the European Court of Human Rights provides a wide scope of discretion to states to decide whether the risk for the safety of persons and in public life is real, or what measures must be taken by the state to overcome the challenge.

The Minister of Justice attached importance to the fact that such measures are conditioned exclusively by the state of emergency, are limited only to the period of the state of emergency, are proportionate, and additional guarantees are provided during application of the restrictive measures.

At the end of his speech, Minister Badasyan wishing all of his colleagues success and health and emphasised that it is important to record the fact that all the measures taken by governments are mainly aimed at saving human lives.