© 2021. ILLUSTRATION BY PEACE DIALOGUE NGO
Introduction
Since 2015, Peace Dialogue NGO (hereinafter PD) has contacted the monitoring of implementation of the Action Plans 2014-2016 and 2017-2019 deriving from the Armenia’s National Strategy for the Protection of Human Rights. In particular, the organization monitored the human rights situation in the Armed Forces and the Ministry of Defense (hereinafter MoD) of the Republic of Armenia (hereinafter RA).
The organization believes that sectoral monitoring is more effective and allows for targeted and in-depth research in the field, even with limited resources.
In recent years, reports from international and local authorities have frequently mentioned issues of death, torture and ill-treatment in the Armed Forces of the Republic of Armenia, as well as issues related to the effectiveness of the investigation, the conditions for exercising the right to a fair trial, and the independence and impartiality of the judicial system. These serious issues are evidenced not only by the statements and reports of human rights groups, but also by the questions raised by authoritative international organizations (European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) and Committee against Torture (CAT)), as well as a number of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) against the Republic of Armenia and relevant decisions by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe.
On 26 December 2019, by the decree N1978-L, the Government of the Republic of Armenia approved the new Action Plan 2020-2022 (hereinafter referred to as HRAP 2020-2022) deriving from the National Strategy for the Protection of Human Rights (hereinafter National Strategy). With the National Strategy, the Government expects to ensure the implementation of acts, instructions and recommendations issued by the bodies acting on the basis of international agreements and settle the issues mentioned in periodic and special reports.
At the beginning of 2020, PD initiated the program Promotion of civil society’s role in the development and implementation of state policy in the field of human rights protection in the Armed Forces. With this initiative, the organization seeks to promote the protection of human rights in the Armed Forces of the Republic of Armenia by establishing an effective mechanism for the civil society representatives for monitoring the defense sector-related activities within the framework of the National Strategy for the Protection of Human Rights. The monitoring group formed within the framework of the initiative, consisting of representatives of civil society organizations operating in the city of Yerevan and the regions of the Republic of Armenia, monitors the implementation of the HRAP 2020-2022 in the defense sector.
Taking into account the importance of neutralizing the effects of coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic all over the world and taking measures to prevent further spread of the infection, during the monitoring special attention was paid to the study of actions taken to prevent the spread of virus in the RA Armed Forces.
This report is devoted to the monitoring of the implementation of the defense sector-related actions in the period from January 1 to December 31, 2020.
Download FULL VERSION OF THE REPORT (pdf, 1 Mb).
Download COMPENDIUM: APPENDIX 1 (pdf, 334 Kb).
Download MONITORING GROUP’S REMARKS AND RECOMMENDATIONS: APPENDIX 2 (pdf, 225 Kb)
© 2021. The monitoring of the implementation of the defense sector-related activities of 2020-2022 Action Plan deriving from the RA National Strategy for the Protection of the Human Rights is carried out by Peace Dialogue NGO within the framework of grants provided by the German Federal Foreign office (represented by the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Armenia) and Open Society Foundations-Armenia.
Peace Dialogue NGO bears all responsibility for the content of this publication. Its content does not necessarily reflect the views of the German Federal Foreign office or those of the Open Society Foundations-Armenia.
