THE RIGHTS OF OVER 200 PERSONS ARE REHABILITATED
Ruzan Ishkhanian
Azat Artsakh Daily
27 October 2010
Republic Of Nagorno Karabakh [NKR]
The NKR current status obliges us to observe the human rights more
strictly. The European human rights convention, which was adopted
after the World War II, proclaimed the basic human rights and
freedoms, which are the necessary conditions for real democratic
development. Currently, our Republic follows this convention. We have
also created the human rights, or Ombudsman Institute, which is firm
in its development process, though overcoming certain difficulties. It
proves the international community that after the collapse of the
Soviet rule the tendency of democratic development in the NKR is
obvious, so our country can introduce itself to the world with
the proper level of self-rule and self-government. Following is our
interview on human rights issues with NKR Ombudsman Yuri Hairapetian: –
Mr. Hairapetian, the Human Rights Institute has occupied its place
in the state system. It is fairly considered an attribute of an
established state. What are the achievements of the Ombudsman Institute
in the NKR and what development level have you personally fixed? – Yes,
you are right in noting that the Ombudsman Institute is considered an
attribute of an established state. This was the reason that, following
the sample of the overwhelming majority of the world states, it was
created in our country on April 16, 2008, and the NKR NA elected the
Ombudsman. This was also an unprecedented step, as there is no state
in the world, which created a similar structure in the conditions
of martial law, while just the contrary is conceded – restriction of
some human rights and freedoms. The Ombudsman Institute creation is
a component of the democratic processes in the NKR, which is aimed at
improving the statehood and creating an open society. Our achievements
can be divided into two basic groups – domestic and foreign. The
basic domestic achievement is the citizens’ trust in the Institute,
which is testified by the considerable increase of their applications
number and the significance of the raised issues. I also consider
it important that in spite of the opposition of the Azerbaijani
authorities and ombudsman, our Institute was privy to international
cooperation in the human rights sphere. The NKR Ombudsman has been a
member of the European Ombudsman Institute for two years; in May 2010,
the NKR Ombudsman and the human rights delegate of the Transdniestrian
Moldavian Republic signed a cooperation agreement. Also, we cooperate
with the Ombudsmen and other human rights structures of some CIS
states. Besides, we have started the process of joining the trilateral
cooperation agreement between the Transdniestrian Moldavian, Abkhazian,
and South Ossetian Republics. – People apply to your service with
hope and trust. How can you satisfy their applications and when do
you face certain obstacles?
If you have any statistic data, please introduce them briefly. –
I didn’t face any grave obstacles within my activity. Surely, there
were rare cases when the Ombudsman’s proposals were rejected. But,
it wasn’t caused by any confrontation; it was caused by the fact that
our Institute and any other structure have differences in interpreting
the same law regulating legal relations. But, similar cases find their
solution as well. With our corresponding legal support, the citizens
applied to the court and the applicant’s request was always satisfied.
There were also cases when I applied to the state’s leadership,
following the corresponding legal procedure, and the raised issue
got its positive solution. As of the statistic data, within May 20,
2008 and October 6, 2010, 950 citizens submitted 650 applications
to the NKR Ombudsman Office, and the rights of over 200 persons were
rehabilitated. – The Ombudsman Institute is the structure reflecting
the job of the judicial power. The people are surely interested in
your assessment of the independence level of our courts. – I have
repeatedly referred to the activity of the judicial power related
to the citizens’ applications, including complaints about different
judicial levels. The analysis based on the citizens’ complaints is
comprised in the Ombudsman’s 2008 and 2009 annual reports. As of
the courts’ independence, we haven’t received any complaint from
the citizens. In any case, the NKR Constitution and laws provide
the courts’ independence. Along with the legislation improvement,
the recent structural and personnel reforms, as well as those
related to the judges’ financial support let us hope for the actual
independence of the courts. – The Republic’s legal field is still far
from perfection, and the issues of deleting the differences between
the acting laws, bringing the legislation in correspondence with the
Constitution are still pending. And all this, surely, relates to
human rights. – Let me disagree with you in this issue. After the
NKR Constitution adoption, the issue of bringing the acting laws
in correspondence with the state’s Basic Law was raised. I think
this process is quite efficient and successful. The legislative
activity related to human rights and freedoms, proceeding from the
constitutional requirements, can be considered accomplished, and it
can be stated that the rights fully correspond to the international
standards. As of the differences between some laws, they really exist.
It should be noted that improvement of laws is a long process existing
in almost all, especially young and democratic states of the world. –
In the West, Ombudsman is an indisputable authority. You once noted
this fact. What do you think is needed that our society may fully
realize the role of the Ombudsman Institute? – Your question can be
certainly answered in the following way: only time is needed.
Generally, the Ombudsman Institute has decennial and centennial history
in the world. It was formed between the 19th and 20th centuries
in Sweden and later spread in other western states. The national
institutes of the states’ Ombudsmen passed a long and difficult way
of self-affirmation and their today’s high authority is the result
of the decades-long democratic and open society development. It’s
clear that the NKR current status obliges us to develop more
rapidly in any sphere, including strict observance and protection
of human rights, than it is done in Azerbaijan. For achieving the
abovementioned in a short period, we have the most important thing:
the structure’s institutional efficiency is equally in the interest of
the Ombudsman, the state’s top authorities, all the power branches,
and the grass-roots, including the mass media, which is hopefully
testified by this interview. P.S. – While preparing this interview,
we were informed that the NKR first-level court had rehabilitated
the violated right of another citizen.
From: A. Papazian