ARMENPRESS. At the special invitation of the French Government and the Council of Europe, Armenia’s Ombudsman Arman Tatoyan has delivered remarks at the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers session.
The session was dedicated to “respective contributions of national human rights institutions and ombudspersons to human rights and the rule of law”.
Tatoyan presented the Armenian Human Rights Defender’s activities and experience, as well as principles and methods of work.
He presented how he is working with the civil society and state bodies, ensuring high level of independence and significant growth of productivity, the Ombudsman’s Office said in a news release. Tatoyan attached importance to the cooperation having strong institutional foundations that is established with parliament.
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For example, he noted that during the spring session the parliament adopted a legislative package relating to the correctional system, which was developed by the Ombudsman’s Office and which was later signed into law by the President, and then joint work was done with the Justice Ministry and the parliamentary committee on state-legal affairs. Tatoyan noted that this proves the important trilateral cooperation format.
He noted that active and productive cooperation has also been developed with the parliamentary committee on human rights and social affairs, as well as the Office of the Representative at the ECHR under the PM’s Office.
“We are also actively cooperation with international human rights organizations. Due to impartial principles of work, the Armenian Human Rights Defender’s reports are recognized as an important source at the European Court of Human Rights, which are referred to while making judgments relating to Armenia. The Human Rights Defender has been included as a third party in a case examined at the ECHR, which is an exclusive practice. We are successfully continuing to present to the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers the Ombudsman’s special stances regarding ECHR judgments,” he said.
Tatoyan said that together with the civil society they will soon develop stances regarding the implementation of Armenia-related ECHR judgments.
Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan