The Foundation Against the Violation of Law (FAVL) announced today the release of the first-ever Armenian translation of the United Nation’s guidelines for the documentation of torture, commonly known as the Istanbul Protocol. Informs the NGO.
“Our goal is to expand the use of medical evidence to bring cases of torture and ill-treatment to light in Armenia so that its perpetrators can be brought to justice,” said FAVL President Mikayel Aramyan.
Developed in 1999, the Istanbul Protocol is the internationally recognized standard for properly investigating and documenting cases of torture. As part of its involvement in the European Commission-sponsored Caucasian Anti-Torture Network program, FAVL staff worked with Georgia’s Empathy NGO and the Armenian Ministry of Justice Translation Centre to issue an official translation of the protocol.
In the coming weeks, special trainings will be held for health and legal professionals on how to use the guidelines in documenting cases of torture.
“Translating this document is the first step in using practical measures to better combat torture in Armenia,” said Kristina Gevorkyan, Vice-President of FAVL. “We now need to use these standards to train experts in the field to better recognize and document evidence of torture.”
High numbers of beatings and ill-treatment of citizens in police custody continue to be reported annually in Armenia. However, these cases rarely ever make it to court due to lack of evidence and inadequate investigations into allegations of torture.
This manual can now be used by professionals to more accurately gather reliable evidence of torture or ill-treatment in custody and use such findings to prosecute those responsible for such crimes.
Official and unofficial translations of the Istanbul Protocol have already been made in seventeen other languages, with the Armenian version being the latest edition for experts and specialists to utilize.
The Armenian version of Istanbul Protocol will be available on organization’s website: www.favl.am .
Since its founding in 1991, FAVL has been consistently at the forefront of helping spread and implement international humanitarian norms within Armenia. It is one of the longest running NGOs working in the sphere of human rights protection, fundamental freedoms, socio-economic and civic development, and democratic advancement.
