© 2014, Peace Dialogue; Author: Arthur Manoukyan
On January 28 of 2014, the day of the anniversary of the Armenian army, a group of parents of the deceased soldiers and the activists of the Army in Reality civil initiative organized a peaceful action in the Freedom Square and once again faced the illegal actions of the police.
Since 2013 Peace Dialogue NGO has been implementing a long-term project called Safe Soldiers for a Safe Armenia, which is supported by a grant from the Dutch organization PAX. The aim of this project is to prevent human rights violations in the armed forces of Armenia and to increase the security of the soldiers serving here.
Peace Dialogue aims to raise awareness about the troubling human rights situation in the armed forces and to create a public demand for solutions. We strive to mobilize local, national and international actors who can have a positive influence on the situation. One of the components of the project is to raise awareness among future conscripts about their rights in the armed forces. Another component of the plan is to create a searchable website database that includes information about the fatalities in the Armed Forces since 1994.
The aim of the database is to collect information about each of the individuals and the human rights violation in the RA armed forces in order to create a public demand for an immediate solution to these issues by the Armenian governments.
The bilingual website www.safesodiers.am was launched in November of 2013. The website and database has been updated with information provided to Peace Dialogue NGO by private individuals along with information from public media. The website database now lists a total of more then 750 fatalities in the armed forces since 1994. There have been 143,536 online views of the website so far. International and local organizations have demonstrated a real and sustained interest in the materials we have uncovered and engage with us on an ongoing basis.
In 2014 approximately 170 people participated in six conflict simulation games entitled Fair Court. Five performances were organized in high schools in Armenia by the theatre of the Oppressed club of Peace Dialogue. Since the beginning of the year Peace Dialogue has organized more than a dozen events and discussions among high school students and youth groups in Lori, Tavush and Shirak regions regarding the human rights issues in the Armenian army. More than 450 young people participated in different activities of Peace Dialogue aimed at raising awareness of young conscripts about their rights during military service.
A workshop entitled “Human rights in the Armed Forces: Systemization of Experience” was held in Yerevan on April 29th and April 30th. The workshop was aimed at providing a working platform for organizations, activists and the family representatives of the deceased Soldiers from Armenia and Russia for critical self-examination and self-improvement activities in the direction of creating respect towards human rights in the armed forces.
Work continues as Peace Dialogue pushes the authorities to confront the issues raised by these investigations. We regularly monitor the court proceedings related to fatalities in the military. Our expert has acted as council to the families, as the pursuit of justice and accountability continues. We have reached out to some of the families and helped them in uncovering details of their child’s death. We have even pushed our involvement in this issue to involve the question of incarceration and the appropriate or inappropriate way in which soldiers, charged in such cases are held.
