ONE OF THE DIRECTIONS IS MONITORING OF PENITENTIARIES
KarabakhOpen
25-05-2007 10:25:42
Civic Action Center NGO was set up in October 2002. The director of
the organization Albert Voskanyan told us one of the main strands of
work of the NGO is the regular monitoring of penitentiaries in NKR the
organization launched in April 2003 with the authorization of the NKR
government. The monitoring, which is conducted on a voluntary basis,
is held for the first time in NKR.
On the basis of analysis of observation and information obtained in
monitoring the CEC extends reports to the CoE, the OSCE, the UN High
Commissioner for Human Rights, the ICRC, Amnesty International, Penal
Reform International, the International Committee against Torture,
other international and human rights organizations, as well as the
relevant agencies of NKR. The CAC regularly provides books to the
libraries of penitentiaries in NKR, including fiction and religious
literature in Armenian, Russian and English. The organization has
provided over 2000 volumes of books to penitentiaries so far.
During the visits to penitentiaries the psychologist of the CAC works
with the inmates who need psychological rehabilitation.
The NGO has created a stand with photos picturing differed aspects
of life of inmates and publishes articles in print media to raise
awareness of the conditions in which inmates are kept.
The monitoring is held once a month, more often if necessity arises,
often to observe the moral, psychological and physical state of the
inmates, their rights, medical services, food, leisure, sanitation,
hygiene in the cells, etc.
Besides, the CAC deals with search for the missing, the rights of the
former POWs and hostages, the problems of religious minorities, etc.
The CAC consistently pursues the issue of passing the penitentiaries
of NKR from the Police to the Ministry of Justice, which will allow
upgrading the system to comply with international standards and solve
the problems more effectively. The CEC welcomes the law prohibiting
death penalty in NKR enacted in summer 2003, Albert Voskanyan said.