Today's press conference addressed the matter of the initiative
of the Government of Republic of Armenia (RA), and it’s adoption in the form it
is presented will abolish the institutional independence of the Human Rights
Defender from the Government, as well as from the ruling faction of the
National Assembly, so that the political authorities can reduce at will the
funding of the institution, should the Ombudsman raise human rights issues.
Below are the main quotes from the Constitution and the law.
According to Article 191, Part 1 of the Constitution of the
Republic of Armenia, the Human Rights Defender is an independent official who
pursues the protection of human rights and freedoms infringed upon by state and
local self-government bodies and officials, and in cases defined by law,
promotes protection from violated rights, engages in restoration of freedoms,
and improvement of normative legal mechanisms related to human rights and
freedoms.
According to Part 3 of Article 191 of the Constitution of the
Republic of Armenia, state and local self-government bodies and officials are
obliged to provide the necessary documents to the Human Rights Defender in the
manner prescribed by law, along with relevant information and clarifications so
as to support the Ombudsman’s mandate.
Articles 2-9 of the Constitutional Law on the Human Rights
Defender enshrine the same principles.
According to Article 5 of the Constitutional Law on the Human
Rights Defender, the Defender is independent in exercising his powers, guided
only by the Constitution, by the Laws applicable to the Human Rights Defender,
and by international treaties of the Republic of Armenia.
According to Article 8, Section 5 of the Constitutional Law on
the Human Rights Defender, the amount of allocation provided by the state
budget for financing the Defender and his staff, as well as the Defender as a
national prevention mechanism, may not be less than the allocation envisaged by
the previous year's state budget.
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