Venice Commission decides to study bill to reduce funding for Armenian ombudsman’s office

At its March 19-20 session, the European Commission for Democracy through Law (Venice Commission) decided to consider a draft law that would reduce the funding for the office of Armenia’s human rights defender.

This issue was discussed at the meeting of the Venice Commission, and the commission published its decision to follow the matter, the ombudsman’s office reported on Wednesday.

Earlier in March, the government of Armenia approved and sent to the National Assembly a bill proposing amendments to the constitutional law on the human rights defender, which envisages the abolition of Article 8, Part 5.

According to this legislative provision, each year the amount of budgetary allocation provided to the ombudsman and his staff, as well as the ombudsman as a national prevention mechanism, may not be less than the allocation provided by the state budget of the previous year.

Ombudsman Arman Tatoyan believes the abolition of the mentioned norm will lead to the abolition of the institutional independence of the defender’s institution. Moreover, the proposed change carries a real risk that it will result in deprivation of its currently held “A” raking/status internationally. This, in turn, will automatically deprive the ombudsman of the opportunity to make presentations and/or speeches in UN structures, and to be elected to leading positions in international organizations.

Earlier, the head of the European Network of National Human Rights Institutions (ENNHRI) addressed an open letter to the Armenian parliament speaker, noting that Article 8, Part 5 of the constitutional law on the human rights defender is the best practice in Europe and calling for efforts to preserve it.