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Armenia had poor human rights records in 2013 - opinions

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  • Armenia had poor human rights records in 2013 - opinions

    Armenia had poor human rights records in 2013 - opinions

    13:00 - 02.01.14


    The Armenian Helsinki Committee's president says the country saw a
    considerable regress in the human rights protection efforts in 2013.

    Speaking to Tert.am, Avetik Ishkhanyan described the human rights
    situation in Armenia as something very gloomy.

    `If I speak in more detail, it is not possible to improve the
    situation in Armenia by every year without serious political reforms
    in terms of the protection of human rights,' he said.

    If we are failing to implement serious political reforms aimed at
    making the judiciary and the local self-government bodies independent,
    it is more than naivety to expect the situation to change for the
    better in the coming year, the activist continued.

    He said the two political elections in 2013 (the presidential polls
    and the Yerevan municipality elections) failed to contribute to any
    positive changes in the electoral system. `The authorities managed to
    replicate themselves through the use of different methods -
    administrative, financial etc,' he explained,

    As for the fundamental rights, Ishkanyan said the police conduct at
    different protest demonstrations and rallies (threatening and beating
    activists and taking them to the police station) was not absolutely in
    line with the amended legislation which was expected to be more
    progressive.

    According to him, the police violence against the civic activists who
    protested against Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to Armenia
    on December 2 demonstrated that the Republic of Armenia Law on
    Assemblies was just a piece of paper for the ruling authorities.
    `Because more than 100 young people were taken to the police during
    the peaceful rally without any justification,' Ishkanyan noted.

    The activist said he didn't observe any achievements at all, adding
    that he doesn't expect serious reforms in 2014 either.

    Chairman of the Helsinki Assembly's Vanadzor Office Artur Sakunts also
    admitted that Armenia's human rights situation saw no positive changes
    last year, with the rights to freedom of speech and freedom of
    assembly continuing to remain disrespected.

    According to him, the systemic problems that had remain unresolved for
    years found no solution last year either despite the efforts taken on
    the state level. `Even the human rights strategy which had received
    President Serzh Sargsyan's approval, and the plan of actions aimed at
    its implementation - for all the existing restrictions and
    shortcomings - was to have been adopted in spring, but it hasn't been
    adopted so far,' he added.

    The activist said further that Armenia's decision to join the
    Russian-led Customs Union was a serious challenge to the human rights
    efforts. `The September 3 decision was the most serious challenge. The
    opportunities we could have had in case [of signing] the Association
    Agreement, particularly in the human rights sector, came to a halt;
    in just an hour's time, they switched over to a system which fully
    poses a challenge from the point of view of human rights,' he added.

    Sakunts also agreed that 2013 was a period of regress for Armenia's
    human rights protection efforts.

    He said the only opportunity to change the situation is to suspend the
    Customs Union membership process.

    As for 2014, Sakunts said he expects it to be a year of resistance,

    `The membership in the Council of Europe remains the only institute.
    Our objective is to resist processes showing signs of regress, which
    is of course impossible given the votes in the National Assembly,' he
    said, stressing once again the importance of demonstrating resistance
    to all the problems that faced the country last year.


    http://www.tert.am/en/news/2014/01/02/Ishkhanyan-saqunc/


    From: Baghdasarian
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