On May 26, the RA Human Rights Defender met in Strasbourg with Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe Nils Muižnieks.
During the meeting the RA Ombudsman provided to the Commissioner of the Council of Europe with information about the atrocities of Azerbaijani armed forces committed against Nagorno Karabakh, stressing that they are a result of the anti-Armenian policy, supported and guided by Azerbaijani highest authorities. Arman Tatoyan pointed out the importance of participation of representatives of NKR human rights structures and democratic institutes in discussions on international level, taking into account that the Azerbaijani aggression was aimed just against the NKR civil population, and the protection of human rights constitutes priority regardless any circumstances. All this is important to note in conditions of the violence-spreading Azerbaijani aggressive policy.
The parties also discussed the issues, related to implementation of joint projects aimed at introduction of European human rights standards in Armenia.
In this regard, the RA Ombudsman stressed the importance of prevention of ill-treatment in the places of detention and, accordingly, the necessity of continuous capacity building of the RA Human Rights Defender, as a national preventive mechanism. Cooperation with the civil society and independent experts was singled out as a guarantee of the effective work.
Stressing the preventing role of the Ombudsman’s office, the parties discussed the issues related to protection of children’s rights and combatting domestic violence. The problem of protection of the rights of disabled persons was also mentioned.
By the end of the meeting the parties expressed the willingness for active cooperation in implementing joint projects related to above-mentioned issues with the aim of achieving positive results.