Karen Karapetyan discusses progress of judicial and legal, anti-corruption, penitentiary and probation services reforms with CoE Director General of Human Rights and Rule of Law

During his visit to Strasbourg, Deputy Minister of Justice Karen Karapetyan met with Director General of Human Rights and Rule of Law of the Council of Europe Christos Giakoumopoulos. Karen Karapetyan expressed gratitude for the active support that the Council of Europe has been providing to the Ministry of Justice for implementation of the agenda of strategic reforms being implemented for human rights protection, strengthening of human rights protection and rule of law and development of democratic mechanisms. The course of implementation of the projects being implemented by the Council of Europe and the achievements made, including those being implemented within the scope of the agenda for judicial and legal, anti-corruption, penitentiary and probation services reforms and for execution of the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) were discussed. The parties also emphasised the programmes launched in the areas under the co-ordination of the Ministry of Justice within the scope of the new Council of Europe Action Plan for Armenia 2023-2026, particularly the programmes aimed at ensuring the rights and guarantees for persons forcibly displaced from Nagorno-Karabakh and at strengthening the constitutional justice system. The ongoing activities that the Ministry of Justice is carrying out with the bodies and committees of the Council of Europe were also discussed. In particular, co-operation with the Venice Commission within the scope of the ongoing reforms in the judicial and legal, electoral sectors and the field of human rights protection, was touched upon. The progress in implementation of the Recommendations in the Interim Compliance Report of Fourth Evaluation Round on Armenia of the Council of Europe's Group of States against Corruption (GRECO), as well as the process of developing and approving the Fifth Evaluation Round were touched upon. Director General Giakoumopoulos highly appreciated the activities carried out by the Government and Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Armenia in the areas of human rights protection, judicial and legal reforms, anti-corruption, execution of ECtHR judgments, and expressed confidence that the co-operation with the Council of Europe will continue to significantly contribute to the reforms underway in Armenia, to the strengthening of democracy, to human rights protection and the development of legal institutions. At the end of the meeting, the parties also considered the opportunities for expansion of the scope of assistance from the Council of Europe Directorate General Human Rights and Rule of Law for implementation of constitutional reforms, support to implementation of the 2023-2026 Anti-Corruption Strategy, personal data protection