Our country is standing on the threshold of serious reforms and the Human Rights Defender will also be engaged in the reform process prioritizing the participation of the civil society in the discussions. The Human Rights Defender Arman Tatoyan noted this during his opening remarks at the expert discussion on “The mechanisms of recovering the rights of the victims of torture in the context of the transitional justice.”
According to him, there is a misperception in the public that ill-treatment includes only torture, i.e., violence, beating, hitting, etc., while ill-treatment includes not providing a person with appropriate medical assistance, keeping in inhumane conditions and so on.
During the event organized by the “Public Journalism Club” and “Helsinki Citizens Assembly Vanadzor Office” Arman Tatoyan informed that the monitoring visits to the penitentiary institutions, psychiatric establishments and child care and protection have revealed a number of systematic problems, which haven’t received adequate attention for years.
“Penitentiary system still preserves punishment character rather than features of restorative justice. There is no individual approach to a person deprived of liberty at the penitentiary institutions. There is no risk assessment of their behavior” noted Arman Tatoyan.
According to him, the state should make predictable the way or behavior for convict’s release.
The Human Rights Defender has informed that criminal cases had been initiated based on the results of the monitoring at the psychiatric establishments. In practice there are serious issues with regard to the maintenance of documents, volunteer and compulsory treatment, and also at child care and protection institutions, where there is no consistent working approach.