The Office of the Human Rights Defender of Armenia has publicly responded to the letter-message sent from Baku prison by Ruben Vardanyan, former Minister of State of Nagorno-Karabakh who was sentenced to prison in Azerbaijan.

“Ruben Vardanyan’s message addressed to RA Human Rights Defender Anahit Manasyan was spread in social media and mass media.

Within the framework of the message, a number of observations are presented regarding the mandate and powers of the HRD institution, which we consider necessary to address below.

First, we consider it important to emphasize that the institution of the human rights defender of the Republic of Armenia operates on the basis of the principle of independence, is not part of the government, operates independently from the latter and is accredited by the subcommittee on accreditation issues of the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions of the United Nations with A status confirming the independence of the institution.

The stated status of the human rights defender of RA implies that the latter cannot and does not conduct negotiations on behalf of the state, does not implement the state’s foreign policy, but acts exclusively according to the legislation of the Republic of Armenia and international standards, within the framework of the mandate assigned to the human rights defender. Accordingly, the powers of the Human Rights Defender of the Republic of Armenia extend exclusively to the processes of recording alleged violations of human rights by the state and local self-government bodies of the Republic of Armenia, regardless of the citizenship of the right holder.

Moreover, the human rights defender of the RA has the right to conduct monitoring visits to the places of deprivation of liberty and has the unhindered opportunity to use all his tools during those visits exclusively in the Republic of Armenia.

At the same time, we consider it necessary to emphasize that within the framework of peace processes, national human rights protection institutions can play a key role, strictly observing the international standards and ethical principles set for the activity of the said bodies and performing this role based on the principles of independence, impartiality, neutrality, multilateralism and cooperation.

The RA Human Rights Defender institution, being an institution accredited by the United Nations as an independent body, does not consider the immediate implementation of all humanitarian and legal mechanisms extremely important in the current situation, but has always used its tools in the post-conflict and peace processes, including from the point of view of ensuring the rights of Armenians deprived of their freedom in Azerbaijan. In this regard, the information to be published is presented on the official platforms of the Human Rights Defender.

At the same time, it should be noted that the activities of national human rights institutions are also based on the principles of “do no harm” and “do no harm”, which the Human Rights Defender of the Republic of Armenia maintains now and will maintain in the future, within the framework of all processes.

We are puzzled by the following idea presented in the text of the message. “During our conversation, the Azerbaijani ombudsman mentioned that he has already discussed with you the possibility of visiting Baku, and the Azerbaijani side has expressed its willingness to contribute to its organization.” We consider it necessary to emphasize that the institution of the human rights defender of the RA has not received any official proposal regarding cooperation on the discussed issue, nor has it received any confirmation that the Azerbaijani side has expressed its willingness to contribute to this cooperation.

At the same time, it should be kept in mind that every issue of rights protection in the territory of a specific state is included within the mandate of the ombudsman / national human rights institution of the given state, is the function of the ombudsman of the given state and cannot in any way be conditioned by the circumstance of communication with the human rights institution of another state.

The institution of the Human Rights Defender of the Republic of Armenia has always been open and is open to any cooperation and communication with partner human rights institutions, if it is carried out strictly following the above-mentioned standards: independence, impartiality, neutrality, observance of ethical principles.

Let’s also add that modern human rights protection systems require an internationally recognized independent monitoring mechanism operating on the basis of the principle of independence to protect the rights of persons during imprisonment, which is a fundamental priority in this context as well.

Human rights defender Anahit Manasyan reaffirms his position, which he has repeatedly voiced publicly, that all Armenians deprived of their freedom in Azerbaijan should be released immediately. This has a key role both in terms of the peace process and in terms of guaranteeing the values ​​related to human rights in the modern civilized world,” said the statement released by the Human Rights Council.

To remind, Ruben Vardanyan’s office distributed Vardanyan’s message, in which a number of questions were addressed to RA human rights defender Anahit Manasyan.

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