On September 26, the Human Rights Defender Ms. Anahit
Manasyan made an opening speech at the interdepartmental workshop on the
implementation of the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR)
against Armenia held within the framework of the Council of Europe's
"Fostering Human Rights in the Armed Forces of Armenia" program.
Issues related to prevention of suicides in the armed
forces, and their effective investigation, and the state's obligations in this
regard were discussed. The aim of the workshop is to promote the resolution of
the issues raised in the Muradyan v. Armenia (Application no. 11275/07).
The Human Rights Defender emphasized the importance of
significant cooperation with the Council of Europe in terms of raising issues
related to the protection of human rights in the Armed Forces of Armenia to the
necessary level, taking into consideration the fact that the protection of
human rights in the Armed Forces is one of the priority areas of her
activities, and it is very important from the viewpoint of guaranteeing the
rule of law in the state.
Unfortunately, the various issues related to the
guaranteeing of the right to life, the prohibition of torture and other forms
of ill-treatment in the Armed Forces of Armenia have not yet been fully
resolved. It is necessary to demonstrate a systematic approach to the solution
of the issue, emphasizing the need to develop and implement a unified concept
for preventing death and self-harm in the Army, as a result of which it will be
possible to achieve a systematic solution to the problem through the analysis
of the circumstances of each case and comparing it with other cases. Structures
which have a preventive function must be highly professional. In this regard,
the effective work of the officer-psychologist, officer-lawyer is also very
important for solving the problems in the field. Effective and proper
investigation of the mentioned cases is also of extreme importance" stated
Ms. Anahit Manasyan.
The Defender registered that despite the efforts made by
competent authorities, a number of problems in the sphere remain unresolved.
Addressing the audience, Ms. Manasyan specially
emphasized that the participation of the Human Rights Defender in the
implementation of ECtHR judgments is one of the examples of international best
practice.
We will give new momentum to that direction, actively
cooperating with our partners in the state and civil society" added the
Human Rights Defender.
Representatives of various competent state bodies and the
representatives of the Defender’s office participated in the workshop. Mr.
Maxime Longangue, the Head of Council of Europe Office in Yerevan, Mr. Hrayr
Hovakimyan, the Head of the Human Rights and Integrity Building Centre of the
Ministry of Defense, Mr. Tigran Karapetyan , the Head of Transversal Challenges
and Multilateral Projects Task Force of the Directorate General of Human Rights
and Rule of Law of the Council of Europe also delivered welcoming speeches.
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