The President of the Association of
Francophone Ombudsmen and Mediators (Paris)
Mohamed Benalilou sent an open letter on behalf of all the members of the
Association to the President of the National Assembly of Armenia Mr. Ararat
Mirzoyan, proposing to preserve the provision on the guarantee of financial
independence of the Human Rights Defender.
The current provision stipulates that the allocated
amount of funding provided from the state budget to the Defender and their
Office cannot be less than the amount provided the previous year.
Mohamed Benalilou expressed concern that the
amendment to repeal this provision would undermine the overall effectiveness of
the institution, in particular its capacity as a national preventive mechanism to effectively monitor places of deprivation
of liberty throughout the country.
Moreover, the President of the association
stated in his letter that the proposed amendment was initiated without the
involvement and discussion with the Defender.
Taking into consideration the Paris and the
Venice principles, the UN General Assembly resolution “The role of the
Ombudsman and mediator institutions in the promotion and protection of human
rights, good governance and the rule of law”, the
letter called for preservation of the provision stipulated in Article 8(5)
of the current Constitutional Law on the Human Rights Defender.
Note: The Association of Francophone Ombudsmen
and Mediators is an
independent international association of 47 members from 36 Francophone
countries. The headquarters is located in Paris. The activities of the
Association of Francophone Ombudsmen and Mediators are aimed at strengthening
the francophone ombudsmen institutions and supporting the exchange of
experience.
We present below the French version of the letter
and its Armenian translation that was prepared
by the Office of the Human Rights Defender.
P.S. While addressing the open letter to the
President of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia, the President of the Association of Francophone Ombudsmen
and Mediators (Paris) was informed that the Government had withdrawn the
draft eliminating the guarantees of financial independence of the Defender's
Office the letter, however, was written for preventive purposes.
Հայերեն
