Minister of Justice Karen Andreasyan attaches importance to main issues of the conduct of fair trial, the protection of the rights of persons deprived of liberty, the fight against discrimination and the complete regulation of the right to freedom of speech

At the initiative of the Ministry of Justice and through co-operation with international partners, the regular session of the Co-ordinating Council for Implementation of the 2020-2022 Action Plan arising from the National Strategy for Human Rights Protection was held, which heralded the launch of the activities for drafting the new 2023-2025 Action Plan for Human Rights Protection.

The mission of the Co-ordinating Council, which comprises representatives of both state bodies and non-governmental organisations, is to conduct monitoring of the National Strategy for Human Rights Protection and the Action Plan.

In his opening remarks, Chairperson of the Co-ordinating Council, Minister of Justice Karen Andreasyan expressed gratitude to all the attendees of the event and the international partners for making notable contributions in the sector of human rights protection and for developing constructive co-operation with the Ministry of Justice.

In his speech, Minister of Justice Karen Andreasyan noted that even though the first Action Plan arising from the National Strategy for Human Rights Protection was approved back in 2014, the change in approaches of the current Government toward this strategic document and the highlighting of importance of the approaches are clear.

Minister Andreasyan spoke out about the particularly important problems in the sector of human rights in Armenia and particularly stressed the measures that the Ministry of Justice is currently taking in this direction, including the need for and importance of the establishment of a new arbitration centre and a new penitentiary institution in Armenia. In light of this, the Minister highlighted the new Criminal Code, Criminal Procedure Code and Penitentiary Code that have entered into force.

In the context of this, the Minister attached importance to the issues of the conduct of fair trial, the protection of the rights of persons deprived of liberty, the fight against discrimination and the complete regulation of the right to freedom of speech.

Head of the EU Delegation Andrea Wiktorin and Head of the UN Development Programme Natia Natsvlishvili also delivered their opening remarks, highlighting the importance of human rights protection and expressing gratitude to the attendees of the event and all the partners for the co-operation.

During the session of the Council, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport, the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Defence and the Investigative Committee of the Republic of Armenia presented the reports on the measures implemented thereby, provided for by the 2020-2022 Action Plan arising from the National Strategy for Human Rights Protection.  

The representatives of non-governmental organisations spoke out about the current problems in the sector and made a number of recommendations for the new Action Plan.

The international partners — the EU Delegation, the UN Development Programme, the Office of the Council of Europe, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and other partners expressed their willingness to support the Ministry of Justice and continue the already formed effective co-operation with regard to human rights protection.

The event was held at the initiative of the Ministry of Justice and with the support of the United Nations Development Programme.