Hammarberg Discussed Human Rights Issues in Armenian Army

RA Minister of Defense Seyran Ohanyan today welcomed Council of Europe (CoE) Commissioner for Human Rights Thomas Hammarberg, who is on a four-day visit to Armenia commencing today.

Matters related to human rights in Armenia’s armed forces were discussed during the meeting, according to a press release issued by the RA Ministry of Defense public relations department.

Armenia’s defense minister introduced Hammarberg to the reforms carried out in the Armenian army for developing mechanisms to protect human rights. The two parties agreed that in order to strengthen the protection of human rights in the Armed Forces it is necessary to work toward increasing conscripts’ awareness of the law (and presumably, their rights under the law) and toward a more effective struggle against violations of the law.

Note that there was a public outcry on a number of non-combat deaths in the Armenian army during the second half of 2010 reported by the media.