On 29 May, the representatives of CSOs participating in the Civil Society Organizations (CSO) incubators in the framework of the EU-funded “Commitment to Constructive Dialogue” project met with Mr. Artur Hovhannisyan and Mr. Vigen Kocharyan, the Deputy Ministers of Justice.
During the meeting a number of issues related to judicial-legal and human rights issues were discussed.
The questions of civil society representatives addressed to First Deputy Minister Arthur Hovhannisyan were mainly related to the amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code, including the unfavorable conditions of the penitentiary institutions, the places of detention of detainees, as well as the visits of the relatives of the convicts.
The representative of the “Astgahtsolk” NGO, Mr. Irina Hovhannisyan expressed concerns related to the probation service mentioning that people who previously worked in the Service of Alternative Sentences currently work here. “The purpose of the probation is to facilitate socialization of the people, and here we have a case that the same employees that treat the beneficiaries as convicts continue to work don’t you see a problem here?” she said.
The Deputy Minister affirmed that there is a problem with the selection of social workers involved in the probation service. “They should understand that they are servants of probation service. I do not think we should release all employees from work and hire new people. Some will reintegrate, understand what policies have changed, and they will act as a probation servant, and those who are shall continue to work and supplicate the stereotypes of previous mechanisms will naturally find themselves out of the system,” he said.
Arthur Hovhannisyan also touched upon the work of the Compulsory Enforcement Service, noting that no matter how much the law is being amended, there is still a need for a new legislative act in the sphere.
In response to the question that persons with disabilities are often unable to work because employers generally reject them, Deputy Minister Vigen Kocharyan said: “We can face such arbitrary approaches, we see the solution to this issue in two directions, envisaging regulation in the Labor Code and a more fundamental solution, the adoption of the Law on Equality, has long history and a has been discussed repeatedly. And currently we are approaching the solution.”
Deputy Justice Minister Vigen Kocharyan said in his speech that such meetings are useful for the ministry as well. “After all, many objectives, problems are common and we need carry out joint,” he said.
The “Commitment to Constructive Dialogue” project is implemented with the financial support of the European Union by a Consortium of civil society organisations, which are the Armenian Lawyers’ Association (lead organisation), Agora Central Europe (NGO based in the Czech Republic), the Armenian Centre for Democratic Education-CIVITAS, the International Centre for Human Development, the SME Cooperation Association and the Union of Communities of Armenia.
