Category: 2022

The office of Armenia’s human rights defender (HRD) received grants worth 22.9 million drams (about $51,000) in 2021, Ombudsperson Kristine Grigoryan said at budget discussions in the parliament on Thursday.

One of the programs is being implemented with funds allocated by the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry to the HRD’s office. The agreement was signed in 2019, but because of the Covid-19 pandemic and the war, it was postponed until 2021, Grigoryan said.

The program is more than 90 percent implemented, she added.

The other program is funded by the UN and is aimed at developing the capacity of the ombudsperson’s office, Grigoryan said, adding the program is over 80% implemented.

Separately, she said that in 2021 the ombudsperson’s staff visited about 200 children, informing them about their rights.

Complaints to the office concerning children’s rights increased by 154 to 904 last year, the defender said.

Meanwhile, complaints from people with disabilities increased by 251. In addition, the HRD’s office hotline received 14,124 calls in 2021, a 20% increase from 2020.

The executive body of the Zartonk (Awakening) National Christian Party strongly condemns the “dangerous” foreign policy pursued by the incumbent Armenian authorities, it said in a statement on Thursday.

Particularly, the party says it concerns the “sham” process of Armenian-Turkish reconciliation on the condition of renouncing the Artsakh people’s right to self-determination as well as the demand for international recognition of the Armenian Genocide.

It recalls that the opposition blocs represented in the Armenian National Assembly have called a special session on June 3 to discuss a draft resolution on Armenian-Azerbaijani and Armenian-Turkish relations.

“The document outlines the red lines concerning Armenian-Turkish and Armenian-Azerbaijani relations, which must not be crossed by any Armenian government,” the party said.

“The executive body of the Zartonk (Awakening) National Christian Party supports the initiative of the parliamentary opposition factions to set red lines for Armenian-Turkish and Armenian-Azerbaijani relations,” the statement reads.

The protest movement launched by the Armenian opposition, dubbed Resistance Movement, is nearing a tipping point, one of its leaders and deputy parliament speaker Ishkhan Saghatelyan said on Thursday.

The two opposition blocs represented in the Armenian parliament have called a special session on Friday to debate a draft resolution concerning Artsakh, a peace deal with Azerbaijan and relations with Turkey. However, the ruling Civil Contract party has unveiled plans to boycott the session.

“A special parliament session is scheduled at 4pm tomorrow. We will go to the parliament. Until then, everyone has the opportunity to express their position,” Saghatelyan said in a statement.

“That chance still exists for most of them. They can still avoid moral responsibility for this shameful process of surrendering the country to the enemy and destroying the statehood. They can still distance themselves from Nikol [Pashinyan],” he added.

Saghatelyan urged people to gather in Yerevan’s France Square to support the opposition MPs. “Depending on the processes in parliament, we will outline our further steps,” the opposition leader said.

“Tomorrow we will all know the names of the figures who have made their choice in the Artsakh issue and Armenian-Turkish relations.

“We are on the right path. The struggle must be brought to a victorious end,” he added.

Armenia’s Human Rights Defender (Ombudsperson) Kristine Grigoryan says all necessary conditions should be in place to guarantee the realization of the Artsakh Armenians’ rights.

“It is necessary to achieve solutions that ensure safe living conditions, the right to life, the right of children to education, the rights to social security, property, political rights, including the right to self-determination. These are the key priorities for the ombudsperson,” Grigoryan told reporters in the parliament on Thursday, responding to a question about Artsakh’s status.

She states at this point human rights are not sufficiently protected in Artsakh, adding people in Artsakh have lost the sense of safety.

“In some cases, people were forced to leave their homes as a result of an aggressive policy [by Azerbaijan] and cannot exercise their right to property or education,” she said.

The latest statement issued by the spokesman of European Council President Charles Michel confirms that no discussions on providing a “corridor” to Azerbaijan were held at the Brussels meeting between the Armenian and Azeri leaders on May 22, Secretary of Armenia’s Security Council Armen Grigoryan said on Thursday.

“There was a clarification from Brussels that no issue within the logic of a corridor was discussed,” he told a press briefing in the parliament, accusing the Azerbaijani authorities of making statements that are inconsistent with the content of the negotiations.

Speaking about Artsakh, the security chief highlighted that the rights and security of Artsakh Armenians should determine its status.

“We continues to attach importance to the rights and security of Armenians living in Artsakh. We are confident that it is rights and security that will determine the status. We will continue to work on it and will definitely achieve results,” Grigoryan said.