Armenia’s human rights record examined by UN

Armenia’s human rights record will be examined by the UN Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) Working Group for the second time on  22 January 2015 in a meeting that will be webcast live. The webcast of the session will be at   http://webtv.un.org

 

 

Armenia is one of the 14 States to be reviewed by the UPR Working Group during its upcoming session taking place from 19 to 30 January.  Armenia’s first UPR review took place on 6 May 2010.

 

The documents on which the reviews are based are: 1) national report – information provided by the State under review 2) information contained in the reports of independent human rights experts and groups, known as the Special Procedures, human rights treaty bodies, and other UN entities; 3) information provided by other stakeholders including national human rights institutions, regional organizations and civil society groups.

 

Among the issues raised in the above-mentioned documents are:

  • countering discrimination; the rights of national minorities;
  • discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity and protection for LGBT persons;
  • the prohibition of the use of torture and ill-treatment;
  • arbitrary detention; accountability of law enforcement officers in case of excessive use of force;
  • violence against women and redress for victims;
  • the independence of the judiciary and access to justice;
  • the exercise of freedom of religion and belief, of peaceful assembly and of expression;
  • legal safeguards for journalists and human rights defenders; access to health services;
  • ensuring free secondary education;
  • employment opportunities for persons with disabilities;
  • just and favourable working conditions;
  • and property rights in connection with allocations of land for mining.

 

The three reports serving as the basis for the review of Armenia on 22 January can be found here: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/UPR/Pages/AMSession21.aspx

 

The UPR is a unique process which involves a periodic review of the human rights records of all 193 UN Member States.  Since its first meeting was held in April 2008, all 193 UN member States have been reviewed during the first UPR cycle and 112 thus far during the second cycle.  The second review of States aims to highlight human rights developments in the country since its first review and provides an opportunity for States under review to spell out steps taken to implement recommendations posed during their first reviews.

 

The delegation of Armenia will be headed by Mr. Ashot Hovakimian, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs/ The three country representatives serving as rapporteurs (“troika”) for the review of Armenia are:  El Salvador, Indonesia and Nigeria

 

The list of speakers and all available statements to be delivered during the review of Armenia will be posted on the UPR Extranet at the following link [username:  hrc extranet (with space); password: 1session]:  https://extranet.ohchr.org/sites/upr/Sessions/21session/Armenia/Pages/default.aspx

 

The UPR Working Group is scheduled to adopt the recommendations of Armenia at 17.00 on 27 January.  The State under review may wish you to express its positions on recommendations posed to it during their review.  The recommendations will be shared with the media on this day in advance.

 

For more information and media requests, please contact Rolando Gomez at +41 (0) 22 917 9711 /  rgomez@ohchr.org

To learn more about the Universal Periodic Review, visit: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/UPR/Pages/UPRMain.aspx

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Sourсе:  UN in Armenia  

 

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