The head of the I Have Honor faction, Artur Vanetsyan, presented the faction’s candidate for the chair of the Standing Committee on Human Rights Defense and Public Affairs. The faction nominated Taguhi Tovmasyan’s candidacy. According to Dont’s formula, the position of the committee chair should have gone to the Armenia alliance, but they decided to nominate the candidate of the I Have Honor faction. When introducing the candidate, Artur Vanetsyan said that she was awarded the title of “Best Deputy of the Year” for her parliamentary activity in 2020. Artur Vanetsyan was not asked any questions about her candidacy.
In her speech, Taguhi Tovmasyan said that the protection of human rights is the exclusive and main function of the state, the functional duty of the state. She stressed that the activities of the state should be aimed at the implementation of human rights, not their restrictions, in order to facilitate the activities of state authorities. According to her, the legislative field has often been a veil for the protection of human rights, but in reality, it was aimed at facilitating the activities of state authorities.
She assured that in case she is elected chair of the committee, she will do her best to ensure the protection of human rights in Armenia. According to her, the parliament should play a special role in the protection of human rights in Armenia, and the committee should focus on restoring the rights violated by our compatriots as a result of the war, as well as openly telling the world about how Azerbaijan is violating all international conventions, including the International Conventions on the Protection of Persons from Enforced Disappearance and Prisoners of War, by refusing to return our compatriots. Taguhi Tovmasyan also spoke about the protection of the rights of the Republic of Armenia’s border settlements’ residents, which is more urgent today, because after the famous statement of November 9, 2020, “the border of the Republic of Armenia was drawn unilaterally and forcibly.”
“Any injustice should not go unanswered,” she said, adding that the aforementioned priorities should in no way overshadow the remaining issues. In her opinion, the issue of introducing the institution of ombudsman for the protection of children’s rights, as well as the ombudsman institution in other target areas should be discussed. The issues of soldiers’ rights should also be in the focus of the commission in order to make military service attractive. In this regard, she shares the view of the RA Ombudsman that the family members of servicemen killed in the war should be outside of competition in the labor market.
Read also
Nelly Grigoryan
