Photo: © 2015, Peace Dialogue; Author: Arthur Manoukyan
In July of 2015 Peace Dialogue launched its one-year project called Awareness Raising Mechanism for the Effective Protection of Human Rights in the Armenian Armed Forces. The project is aimed at raising awareness among local and international communities about the human rights situation in the Republic of Armenia (RA) Armed Forces and mobilizing them to increase public demand for transparency, accountability, and greater respect for human rights in the military.
In the framework of the project, Peace Dialogue will present and promote the website www.safesoldiers.am to citizens living in different regions of Armenia (Lori, Tavush, Vayots Dzor, Ararat, and Syunik regions) in order to raise public awareness of problems in the military. Visitors to the website will be able to anonymously contribute to the database by posting information or uploading photos or other materials about non-combat fatality cases, which happened in the Army. In addition, the project team will urge visitors to report about any other human rights violations in the army that have not been recorded on the website. The website focuses on the period after Armenia and Azerbaijan reached a ceasefire in 1994. Such materials will be carefully reviewed and verified before being posted.
Hundreds of military non-combat deaths have gone without proper and unbiased investigation. In many cases the cause of death has been misrepresented by the military services. Family members, noticing inconsistencies in reports and seeking answers have been generally ignored. Eventually, these non-combat deaths are successfully covered up and forgotten. The purpose of www.safesoldiers.am is to give families knowledge and support in finding answers. The staff of Peace Dialogue believes that quick updates on crimes and human rights violations that take place in any of the military units and are posted by actual witnesses will serve as an alarm to authorities so that appropriate and effective actions can be taken urgently.Furthermore, the website will serve as a source of information for officials and local and international experts in raising awareness and developing solutions for preventing additional human rights violations in the RA military forces.
In addition, the project team will monitor all media, reports of local and international NGOs regarding the non-combat fatalities in the army and will publish the records and reports in the www.safesoldiesr.am database after the relevant review and clarification of the details.
For the additional questions, you can contact as at [email protected] or [email protected].
The project is supported by The Democracy Commission Small Grants program of the Embassy of the United State of America in Armenia.
The opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed herein are those of the Author’s and do not necessarily reflect those of the Department of State.
