Deputy Minister of Justice Anna Karapetyan, as a delegation member, participated in the discussion on the National Report of the Republic of Armenia for the Fourth Cycle of the Universal Periodic Review

On 1 May, Deputy Minister Anna Karapetyan delivered a speech during the discussion of the National Report submitted by the Republic of Armenia for the Fourth Cycle of the United Nations Universal Periodic Review at the 49th session of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva. The Report reflects on the reforms and challenges related to human rights in Armenia over the past four-and-a-half years.

In her speech, Anna Karapetyan provided detailed information about the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Justice in regard to the implementation progress of the Recommendations given to Armenia in the previous review cycle. In particular, touching upon the progress made in the field of human rights protection, the Deputy Minister presented the legislative and practical mechanisms introduced and to be introduced to ensure legal equality, protect against discrimination and combat hate speech, including the large-scale activities for raising public awareness, as well as the trainings for the law-enforcement system, judges and sector-specific specialists. The Deputy Minister emphasised the works for development of a new strategic document in the sector of protection against discrimination and the fight against hate speech and the importance of the actions provided for by the strategic document.

Anna Karapetyan touched upon the reforms in the judicial-legal sector and anti-corruption field, the progress that was recently made through the implementation of sector-specific strategic documents, including e-justice, alternative mechanisms for dispute settlement, a three-tier anti-corruption judicial system, integrity mechanisms for public officials and the whistle-blowing system. In the context of criminal sector reforms and the adoption of new sector-specific Codes, Anna Karapetyan spoke about the legislative reforms made with regard to the liability of legal persons, hate speech, hate-motivated crimes targeted at sexual freedom and sexual harassment, as well as prohibition of torture. At the end of her speech, Anna Karapetyan stressed the commitment of the Republic of Armenia to continuing to carry out sector-specific reforms and ensuring the implementation of strategic documents by building a society based on equality and rule of law.