Karen Karapetyan discusses draft Law “On national minorities" with delegations of Venice Commission and Council of Europe

Deputy Minister of Justice Karen Karapetyan received the delegation of the "European Commission for Democracy through Law" (Venice Commission) and the Directorate General of Democracy and Human Dignity of the Council of Europe.

The Deputy Minister expressed gratitude to the representatives of the Venice Commission and the Council of Europe, attaching importance to the established co-operation and the contribution of the Council of Europe to the ongoing implementation of reforms in human rights and the judicial and constitutional reforms in Armenia. The effective support provided by the Commission for the development of several key projects initiated by the Ministry in recent years, was particularly touched upon. The parties discussed the draft Law “On national Minorities", which was developed by the Ministry and has been submitted for the joint opinion of the Venice Commission and the Council of Europe. The activities for development of the draft Law and the progress of public deliberations, as well as several key regulations in the draft Law, including the procedure for formation and functions of the Council for National Minorities — established by the draft Law — were considered.

The members of the delegation highly appreciated the level of co-operation with the Ministry of Justice and expressed gratitude for the constructive dialogue over this important legal issue. At the end of the meeting, an agreement was reached to continue discussions on the draft Law after the Venice Commission and the Directorate General of Democracy and Human Dignity of the Council of Europe draft their preliminary joint opinion. Among members of the delegation were member of the Venice Commission Veronica Bílková; substituting member Janneke Gerards, Deputy Secretary General of the Venice Commission Delphine Freymann, representative of the Commission's Secretariat Roland Gjoni, as well as expert Federica Prina from the Directorate General of Democracy and Human Dignity of the Council of Europe. Head of the Council of Europe Office in Yerevan Maxim Longangué was also attending the meeting.