At the
invitation of Ms. Tatiana Moskalkova, the Commissioner for Human Rights in the
Russian Federation, the Human Rights Defender of Armenia Mr. Arman Tatoyan
participated in the observation of the elections of the State Duma of the
Russian Federation on September 17-19 as an international expert.
During
the visit, a round table discussion was held on the exchange of best practices
of ombudspersons in ensuring the voting rights of citizens.
Mr.
Arman Tatoyan made a special speech, emphasizing the role of national human
rights institutions in the election process and in the protection of citizens'
voting rights.
"For
the ombudsman, it is important to observe both the pre-election campaign as
well as the voting day and post-election developments to make an accurate and
reliable assessment. The highest "A" status granted to human rights
institutions is also important for the reliability of assessments, which we and
the Russian Commissioner for Human Rights have"- mentioned the Human
Rights Defender of Armenia, emphasizing that in such processes, insult and
tension should be excluded, converting the entire political system into a
dispute for power which underscores the importance of human rights, and pushes
real human issues into the background.
Mr.
Arman Tatoyan praised the new unique practice introduced by the Commissioner
for Human Rights in the Russian Federation during the State Duma elections,
which allows online monitoring of polling stations in real-time with direct
access to the video surveillance of polling stations; this refers to the video
surveillance during all three days of voting.
This
enabled the Commissioner to make reliable assessments of issues related to
various electoral rights, and maintain a necessary transparency of work.
Certain
issues were registered on site during the monitoring at the human rights
institution, which were solved with the cooperation of the Human Rights
Commissioner of the Russian Federation and the Central Electoral Commission of
the Russian Federation
Mr.
Arman Tatoyan noted that the effective and collaborative work of the regional
Commissioners with the Commissioner of the Russian Federation is the result of
the immense effort of their colleague Ms. Tatiana Moskalkova
During
the discussions at the Central Electoral Commission and the Civic Chamber of
the Russian Federation, the Human Rights Defender of Armenia presented the high
level cooperation with the Commissioner of Human Rights in the Russia
Federation. The Defender also presented the positive experience of the collaboration
between the Armenian ombudsman and the Central Electoral Commission of Armenia
in the guaranteeing of electoral rights of the citizens of Armenia.
During
the visit, Mr. Arman Tatoyan recorded that the Commissioner Ms. Tatiana
Moskalkova is conducting an effective dialogue on issues related to electoral
rights with civil society organizations.
During
the election observation process, the Human Rights Defender of Armenia, as well
as the heads of national human rights institutions of other countries visited pre-trial
detention centers of the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia get acquainted
with the process of organizing the election process.
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