Probation Service strengthening its position in justice sector; Deputy Minister attaches importance to co-operation with Council of Europe

Deputy Minister of Justice Levon Balyan delivered an opening speech at the workshop devoted to inter-agency and inter-disciplinary co-operation between the Probation Service and other state institutions, as well as between interested parties. In his speech, the Deputy Minister highly appreciated the 2023-2026 Action Plan being implemented by the Council of Europe for Armenia, within the scope of which a number of actions are being implemented to strengthen the role of the Probation Service in the justice sector.

The international standards and the European best practice for inter-agency cooperation in the probation sector were presented, and the report on assessment of needs, particularly the possible areas for strengthening inter-agency and inter-disciplinary cooperation, the steps being taken for improvement of the sector, were discussed during the meeting.

CoE National Consultant Davit Melkonyan spoke about the current state of inter-agency and inter-disciplinary co-operation and the framework of legislative regulation in Armenia, as well as shared recommendations with regard to improvement of the law-regulating and operational framework.

A discussion on the comments received from state bodies with regard to the recommendations and a question-and-answer session were held at the end of the meeting.

Representatives of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Probation Service, the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Republic of Armenia, the Supreme Judicial Council of the Republic of Armenia, the “Protection of Rights without Borders” NGO and authorities participated in the workshop, which was organised and financed within the scope of the Project “Support the scaling-up of the probation service in Armenia”.