Today, at the PACE Monitoring Committee session, co-rapporteurs on Armenia, Axel Fischer and Alan Mill, presented the data in the result of the visit to Armenia on June 16-18. From Armenia representation, the Head of the Armenian delegation to PACE, Hermine Naghdalyan, and a delegation member, Armen Rustamyan, attended the Monitoring Committee closed-door session.
Hermine Naghdalyan presented some information from the closed-door session to Aravot.am. She particularly said, “The speakers have already presented the results of their fact-finding mission, about which a short discussion was held, but no voting is anticipated.” We were interested to know when the report about Armenia will be ready. Mrs. Naghdalyan did not mention any specific dates, she just said, “The information is still to be worked out by the rapporteurs. We reached an agreement with the co-rapporteurs to organize a meeting at the PACE autumn session between the staff of the delegation and co-rapporteurs to discuss this information and routine matters. We also agreed that such meetings be held during all sessions, which will enable to work with co-rapporteurs closer and they will be able to keep the hand on the pulse about the matters going on in the country.”
To our next question of whether the co-rapporteurs were generally pleased with implementation of commitments placed before Armenia, Mrs. Naghdalyan responded, “The co-rapporteurs noted that this visit was the first one after the parliamentary and local government elections in Armenia, which pursues a cognitive goal: record the changes and update the information. They were naturally interested also in the preparation process of constitutional reforms in Armenia.”
As conveyed by Mrs. Naghdalyan, the Monitoring Committee session discussed also issues like alternative services, gender equality, the rights of religious and sexual minorities, reforms in the police and justice system in Armenia. As conveyed by Mrs. Naghdalyan, the co-rapporteurs, generally, expressed positive about Armenia, and observed a progress. This, however, provoked Azerbaijani delegates’ outrage. “Therefore, a nervous situation was created for Azerbaijani partners, and they tried to respond to co-rapporteurs’ presentations nervously”. The Head of the Armenian delegation to PACE also noted that at the Monitoring Committee session, the co-rapporteurs referred to some of the existing problems in Armenia. For instances, ensuring independence in the justice system, equality between men and women, army, human rights defense-related issues, but according to Hermine Naghdalyan, co-rapporteurs have observed positive shifts in these matters, too.
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Tatev HARUTYUNYAN
