The monitoring of the Electoral Rights Watch shows that Nikol Pashinyan’s Civil Contract Party systematically engages children in its election campaign.
“We consider this process illegal and against children rights and draw the attention of competent state and public and international organizations to this issue,” the watchdog said in a statement.
“The international instruments guaranteeing children's rights highlights the principle of "being informed" of the child's participation in the processes having a political character. It assumes that a child, in particular, realizes (1) the purpose of his / her participation in certain processes, (2) by whom and why the decision on his/her participation was made, (3) his/her role in terms of content and not in terms of form.
“The same international instruments consider unacceptable manifestations of children's participation in certain processes, when the child participates in a process where he/she does not realize the essence and purpose, or when children are involved by adults not because the problem is related to their interests, but thus the demonstration of the problem is ensured,” the statement reads.