On 17-18 April, Vanadzor office of Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly organized a workshop on “The Principle of Equality and Challenges of Discrimination in Armenia”. Its purpose was to raise human rights awareness of psychiatric institutions workers, prisons officers, lawyers, journalists and human rights defenders working in Armenia by developing knowledge and sharing experience about the principle of equality, discriminations and its challenges.
The observer group member working in penitentiary institutions Sergey Gabrielyan, speaking about the problems of homosexuals, mentioned that homosexuals are given special cells usually with very bad conditions, they are being abused and given dirty jobs to do like collecting garbage in the territory, cleaning the bathroom, etc.
Nevertheless other members of penitentiaries did not share this viewpoint. One of them was the head of “Armavir” penitentiary Husik Gharaghazaryan who said: “Keeping them isolated is not discrimination, as it is a step to keep them secure. Some of the prisoners are not willing to share the space with homosexuals and if they are not isolated, they might be attacked. What concerns to the job, nobody forces them to work”.
Advocate Artur Sukiasyan, the coordinator of Lori Branch of the Armenian Young Lawyers Association told us that all the issues with discrimination should be controlled by law in the legal framework: “Speaking about the issues of discrimination we consider that the solution in reality must be controlled mostly in the legal framework and advocates can correctly guide the concerned people. Mostly advocates get to know with the discrimination issues and the knowledge during the discussion is essential for them”, concluded the advocate.
