INTERVIEW WITH ALBERT VOSKANIAN
Azat Artsakh – Nagorno Karabakh Republic [NKR]
04 May 05
Several days ago a seminar was held in London Royal Institute
of International Affairs on the topic “Political Development and
Calls for Security in South Caucasian Conflicts”. Representatives
of international and non-governmental organizations, politicians and
diplomats from different countries took part in the seminar. Nagorno
Karabakh was represented by the director of the Center for Civil
Undertakings Albert Voskanian who reported on the impact of “frozen”
conflicts on the development of democracy. According to Albert
Voskanian, the seminar was highly organized, the participants were
given an opportunity to present the current situation in their
countries, discuss different political developments and challenges
threatening the security of the region and express their viewpoints
on the ways of resolution of the conflicts. “In Nagorno Karabakh
we are highly conscious that the international community considers
the democratic state built on social justice to be the cornerstone
of the present world system of values,” said Mr. Voskanian in his
address. “In this respect we are highly conscious of the fact that
we shall attract the attention of the international community only
when we build a truly democratic society in our country. We are
also aware that we have not achieved this aim yet. At the same time
we are convinced that the rapid resolution of “frozen” conflicts
through peace talks with direct participation of the conflict
parties will greatly favour this process, for every nation has its
idea of its future. At the same time we recognize that being left
behind in the modern processes of development, particularly having
no opportunity of receiving aid from international organizations,
Nagorno Karabakh needs to rely on its own resources and the aid of
the Armenian Diaspora, as well as look for non-standard ways and
methods of using the potential of the region. The Diaspora and,
of course, Armenia help Karabakh to improve economic management,
efficiency of different governmental organizations and agencies,
develop democratic institutions and the mass media in the republic,
and other matters. However, we realize that at present these are merely
auxiliary factors for our republic.” Evika Babayan: “Mr. Voskanian,
would you tell about the human rights organization Center for Civil
Undertakings?” A.V.: “I would like to mention that the organization
contributes to the creation of a civil society, development of the
public sector and democratic institutions in Nagorno Karabakh. One
of the main directions in the activities of the organization is the
monitoring of the prisons of Nagorno Karabakh held since April 2003
with the permission of the authorities of the republic, which is an
unprecedented step in our region. Why unprecedented? It is the first
time that a non-governmental organization fulfills such an activity
on a regular basis in Karabakh. The motto of our organization in
this work is the phrase of Winston Churchill “prison is the mirror
of the society”. On the basis of the information and observations
gathered during the visits to the prisons the Center prepares reports
and extends them to the Council of Europe, OSCE, the UN Commissar on
Human Rights, Alert International, Amnesty International, Penal Reform
International, Committee Against Torture and other international
and human rights organizations, as well as the corresponding
organizations of Nagorno Karabakh. We report both the positive and
negative sides, gives instructions to the administrations of prisons
for the improvement of the situation. In practice we see that the
administrations of the prisons take into account our opinion. The
aforementioned organizations also respond to our reports. We got
a letter from the Council of Europe asking to inform them about
the activities of our organization. If necessary we give practical
advice to international and other organizations dealing with the same
problem. I would like to state not without pride that our activity
carried out on a charity basis has its contribution to the process
of democratization of the society in Karabakh. Our organization
consistently acts in favour of transferring the prisons of Nagorno
Karabakh from the Police under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of
Justice, for we think this will favour maintaining international
standards in this sphere more rapidly, as well as the effective and
many-sided solution of the current problems.” E.B.: “Mr. Voskanian, we
know that the human rights organization was among the first to respond
to the idea of abolishing capital punishment.” A.V.: “Yes, in fact,
we were among the first to propose abolition of capital punishment in
our republic too. By the way I would like to mention that in Nagorno
Karabakh capital punishment was abolished (de facto) in 1997, which
was included in the OSCE report. The last capital punishment in NKR
was executed before 1997. In Nagorno Karabakh capital punishment was
abolished since August 1, 2003 after the enactment of the corresponding
law. According to the law capital punishment as the ultimate form of
punishment is replaced by life imprisonment in Nagorno Karabakh.” A.V.:
“Presently more than a hundred non-governmental organizations are
registered in the republic of which only a small number operates due
to the lack of local and international donors. The humanitarian sphere
is politicized for the reason that the republic is not recognized,
which, actually, hinders setting up relationships abroad.” E.B.:
“Did the seminar correspond to your expectations?” E.B.: “On the
whole yes, especially that the discussion of the questions raised
at the seminar will resume in Tbilisi this July. The final document
containing instructions for the governments and the public sector will
be presented. The document will be aimed at establishing constant
dialogue between the government and the society, which will in the
long run have a positive impact on the regional processes.”
EVIKA BABAYAN. 04-05-2005