Armenian Ombudsman's Office launches new cooperation program with ECHR

^{Armenian Ombudsman Arman Tatoyan with ECHR President Robert Spano in Strasbourg}

Armenia's human rights defender on Wednesday announced the launch of a new international cooperation program with the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).

In a public post on Facebook, Ombudsman Arman Tatoyan said that the agreement for a new partnership was reached as part of a working meeting with Robert Spano, the ECHR's newly elected president in Strasbourg.

The meeting was also attended by Armen Harutyunyan, a former Armenian ombudsman who now serves as a judge at the Strasbourg court, Roderick Lidell, the ECHR Registrar, and Patrick Titiun, the Head of the Private Office of the President of the Court.  

"I have the pleasure to state that considering the significance of the human rights defender of Armenia, the ECHR President proposed a program aimed at creating a new experience of cooperation with the European Ombudsmen and the European Court. The President of the European Court proposed the Armenian Ombudsman's candidacy as a main rapporteur at those events. Meantime we agreed that it can be arranged both with the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers and in any other format," Tatoyan said.

As a serious groundwork fostering the partnership, he  also cited the Armenian Ombudsman's status as a third party in the ECHR (submitting independent evaluations to the CoE Human Rights and Rule of Law Directorate with respect to the implementations of the ECHR judgments by Armenia, as well sa elaborating legal criteria) and the domestic courts' practice of incorporating his positions into their judicial acts, etc.

According to Tatoyan, the ECHR President highly appreciated the significance of the Armenian Ombudsman's reports for the Court, as well as the efforts towards enacting the ECHR principles and the European Convention on Human Rights in Armenia.

The Ombudsman said he also congratulated Spano on taking office, wishing him fruitful work and more achievements in the future. He added the European official's earlier career as the Ombudsman of Iceland increasingly contributed to their effective discussions.