Armenia had poor human rights records in 2013 – opinions

The Armenian Helsinki Committee’s president says the country saw a considerable regress in the human rights protection efforts in 2013.

Speaking to Tert.am, Avetik Ishkhanyan described the human rights situation in Armenia as something very gloomy.

“If I speak in more detail, it is not possible to improve the situation in Armenia by every year without serious political reforms in terms of the protection of human rights,” he said.

If we are failing to implement serious political reforms aimed at making the judiciary and the local self-government bodies independent, it is more than naivety to expect the situation to change for the better in the coming year, the activist continued.

He said the two political elections in 2013 (the presidential polls and the Yerevan municipality elections) failed to contribute to any positive changes in the electoral system. “The authorities managed to replicate themselves through the use of different methods – administrative, financial etc,” he explained,

As for the fundamental rights, Ishkanyan said the police conduct at different protest demonstrations and rallies (threatening and beating activists and taking them to the police station) was not absolutely in line with the amended legislation which was expected to be more progressive.

According to him, the police violence against the civic activists who protested against Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to Armenia on December 2 demonstrated that the Republic of Armenia Law on Assemblies was just a piece of paper for the ruling authorities. “Because more than 100 young people were taken to the police during the peaceful rally without any justification,” Ishkanyan noted.

The activist said he didn’t observe any achievements at all, adding that he doesn’t expect serious reforms in 2014 either.

Chairman of the Helsinki Assembly’s Vanadzor Office Artur Sakunts also admitted that Armenia’s human rights situation saw no positive changes last year, with the rights to freedom of speech and freedom of assembly continuing to remain disrespected.

According to him, the systemic problems that had remain unresolved for years found no solution last year either despite the efforts taken on the state level. “Even the human rights strategy which had received President Serzh Sargsyan’s approval, and the plan of actions aimed at its implementation – for all the existing restrictions and shortcomings – was to have been adopted in spring, but it hasn’t been adopted so far,” he added.

The activist said further that Armenia’s decision to join the Russian-led Customs Union was a serious challenge to the human rights efforts. “The September 3 decision was the most serious challenge. The opportunities we could have had in case [of signing] the Association Agreement, particularly  in the human rights sector, came to a halt; in just an hour’s time, they switched over to a system which fully poses a challenge from the point of view of human rights,” he added.

Sakunts also agreed that 2013 was a period of regress for Armenia’s human rights protection efforts.

He said the only opportunity to change the situation is to suspend the Customs Union membership process.

As for 2014, Sakunts said he expects it to be a year of resistance,

“The membership in the Council of Europe remains the only institute. Our objective is to resist processes showing signs of regress, which is of course impossible given the votes in the National Assembly,” he said, stressing once again the importance of demonstrating resistance to all the problems that faced the country last year.