Promoting Justice Reform and Human Rights Protection Mechanisms in Armenia in the Context of Eastern Partnership. Panel Discussion

Promoting Justice Reform and Human Rights Protection Mechanisms in Armenia in the Context of Eastern Partnership

Public Discussion

On March 19th at 9h00-11h30 at the Marriott Hotel, under the auspices of Euronest PA Co-Chairs, EP Chair for the Delegation to South Caucasus, the Open Society Foundations, and the European Endowment for Democracy held a panel discussion entitled “Promoting Justice Reform and Human Rights Protection Mechanisms in Armenia in the Context of Eastern Partnership”.

Speakers included Artur Sakunts (Chairman of the Helsinki Citizen’s Assembly, Vanadzor), Avetik Ishkhanyan (President of the Armenian Helsinki Committee) Varuzhan Hoktanyan (Executive Director of Transparency International Anticorruption Center) and Artak Zeynalyan (Head of the Rule of Law NGO).

The session reflected on the state of justice and human rights protection policies in Armenia in the scope of the Eastern Partnership and examined the leading tendencies of the field in the context of Armenia’s Eurasian Economic Union membership. Furthermore the discussion drew on analysis of different practices of justice and human rights reform implementation in Armenia in the context of Eastern Partnership and offered the civil society perspective of the future cooperation format along with recommendations for policy improvement. Opening speeches were delivered by Sajjad Karim Chair of the EP Delegation for relations with South Caucasus, Andrej Didenko, political officer, Delegation of European Union to Armenia, Genya Petrosyan, RA Ombudsman office.  The session was moderated by Larisa Minasyan Open Society Foundations Armenia.