The monitoring of the National Strategy for the Protection of Human Rights and its Implementation Action Plan is underway under the “Promoting of Straight Democracy for Strengthening Human Rights in Armenia” project. The Armenian lawyers’ Association plans to provides the public with summary information on the monitoring results, covering specific areas of the Action Plan each week. Previous materials have already provided to the public attention the information on the activities carried out by the RA Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, the RA Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure, the RA Ministry of Defense, and the RA Police. This week we will refer to the work carried out by the RA Ministry of Justice on the National Strategy for the Protection of Human Rights and Deriving from it Action Plan in the areas of the Right to Life and the Prohibition of Torture.
According to the Action Plan for 2020-2022 Deriving from National Strategy for the Protection of Human Rights, measures to be implemented regularly under the Action Plan include training on the topic of the right to life for investigators (target indicator: 8% of investigators), prosecutors (target indicator: 4% of prosecutors), judges (target indicator: 41% of judges), correctional facilities personnel (target indicator: 25% of personnel). The training topics were included in the training program of the RA Academy of Justice in 2020 in one way or another, but no trainings were carried out during the first half of 2020, conditioned by the COVID-19 epidemic. Similarly, trainings on domestic violence and violence against women were not conducted among the above-mentioned target groups.
Measures to be implemented regularly in the period of 2020-2022 in the area of prohibition of torture include training on the topic of prohibition of torture, inhuman or degrading treatment in accordance with international standards for investigators (target indicator: 51% of investigators), prosecutors (target indicator: 7% of prosecutors), judges (target indicator: 41% of judges), correctional facilities personnel (target indicator: 25% of the staff) and training for medical staff of correctional facilities (target: 25% of medical staff).
Within the framework of these activities, the training program “Current issues of application of ECHR legal positions on criminal cases” was included in the training programs of the RA Academy of Justice for 2020. The program covers as a separate topic the current case law of the ECHR on the protection of the prohibition of torture and other inhuman or degrading treatment, racism and discrimination, in the field of criminal law and litigation, as well as the issues of its application to the Republic of Armenia.
In the first half of 2020, 5 investigators of the RA Special Investigation Service were trained. no trainings for the other target groups were carried out during the first half of 2020, conditioned by the COVID-19 epidemic.
More detailed monitoring results in the above and other areas will be presented in the monitoring report, which will be prepared after the completion of the research field work. A package of recommendations aimed at improving the implementation of the National Strategy for the protection of human rights in the country as a whole will be presented to the competent authorities as well.
This publication has been produced in the scope of the “Promoting Direct Democracy for Strengthening Human Rights in Armenia” project implemented in the framework of the “Eastern Partnership Civil Society Facility” project funded by the European Union
The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of the fellow for the “Promoting Direct Democracy for Strengthening of Human Rights in Armenia” project and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the European Union.
