Epress.am News from Armenia
Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Thomas Hammarberg released his much-awaited report on Armenia yesterday. Recall, Hammarberg visited Armenia from Jan. 18–21, 2011, and held discussions on the human rights situation with national authorities, prominent political figures and representatives of civil society. Hammarberg’s report focuses on human rights issues related to the events of Mar. 1–2, 2008; freedom of expression and freedom of the media; and incidents in Armenia’s armed forces.
“The frequent reports of abuses in the Armenian army, ranging from the imposition of arbitrary disciplinary punishments to various forms of ill-treatment and hazing, and even non-combat fatalities, are very worrying,” wrote Hammarberg.
The Commissioner, in his conclusions and recommendations urged the authorities “to fully acknowledge this phenomenon and intensify their efforts, through prompt and effective investigations, to put an end to the impunity of perpetrators and responsible commanders. The Commissioner believes that there is a need to exercise strong and firm political will of the country’s top leadership to eliminate all such practices, which not only violate human rights but also dishonour the military.
“The Commissioner understands that conscripts and officers who are victim of abuses are afraid to report them and very rarely use independent complaints mechanisms such as the Ombudsman and courts. The Commissioner urges the Armenian authorities and the military establishment to secure free access to independent complaints mechanisms (outside the military hierarchy and institutions) without fear for retaliation against the complainants.
“The Commissioner encourages the Armenian authorities to amend the military disciplinary regulations in conformity with international human rights standards. In particular, the Commissioner wishes to stress that there should always be an investigation in cases of alleged disciplinary violations and that no arbitrary disciplinary sanction should be imposed.”
On a positive note, Hammarberg welcomed the hotlines established by the defense ministry and the military prosecutor for encouraging direct contact with the public on issues related to the army. “More generally, he considers it positive that human rights issues in the army are part of the public debate in Armenia, and that cooperation has been established between the Ministry of Defence and human rights organizations in this field.”
However, the human rights commissioner believed the authorities need to “step up their efforts”:
“The Commissioner encourages the authorities to duly provide information to the public on abuses in the army, including statistics about non-combat deaths and their nature. This would contribute to decreasing mistrust and suspicion about murders being misrepresented as cases of incitement to suicide.
The Commissioner invites the Armenian authorities to step up their efforts in providing human rights education and training to conscripts and officers with a view to preventing the occurrence of violations and encouraging the use of complaint mechanisms when abuses take place.”
And lastly, Hammarberg proposed establishing an independent body to monitor the human rights situation in the army.
“The Commissioner believes that an independent human rights monitoring body composed of representatives of civil society, including experts, should be established in order to monitor the human rights situation in the armed forces. This mechanism should be able to monitor a wide range of issues, such as instances of hazing and ill-treatment, corruption, the drafting process, etc.”