Support of international partners for justice sector reforms expanding

A co-ordinating workshop for international partners supporting the reforms in the justice sector was held under the chairmanship of Deputy Minister of Justice Karen Karapetyan. The aim of the workshop was to present to the international partners the progress of the sector-specific reforms, the upcoming actions and their priorities, and to consider the directions for provision of support from the international partners and the opportunities for expanding the actions targeted at sectoral development. In his opening remarks at the event, Head of the Co-operation Unit of the Delegation of the European Union Frank Hess highly appreciated the agenda of reforms being implemented in the justice sector and the introduction of international standards in those processes. He attached importance to the co-operation being carried out with the Ministry of Justice in different formats, including through budget support programmes. In his remarks, Karen Karapetyan commended the work with international partners in different strategic sectors and expressed gratitude to the organisations carrying out international missions in Armenia for their support. The Deputy Minister presented the programmes being jointly implemented with international partners and the results of those programmes, including the legislative and institutional changes. The reforms made in the justice sector over the past year were presented, including the reforms in the field of human rights protection, the anti-corruption field, the judicial-legal, penitentiary and probation sectors, as well as the sector of digitisation.

In the second part of the workshop, the sector-specific needs in strategic directions and the prospects for the support of international partners for meeting those needs were discussed through working groups divided according to sectors. Agreements were reached with international partners to continue discussions for the introduction of outlined sector-specific programmes, as well as consider other opportunities for co-operation.

Nearly 50 representatives of the diplomatic corps and international organisations, including representatives of the United Nations Organisation, the European Union, the Council of Europe, the United States Agency for International Development, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank were attending the workshop.