The report has been compiled on the basis of publications of the ‘Journalists for Human Rights” NGO, results of investigations, court cases, citizens’ opinions and appeals.
The main objective is to identify the issues which, if there is political will, can lead to drastic changes in the field of human rights in the Army of the Republic of Armenia.
The “Journalists for Human Rights” NGO sees its main mission in combating human rights violations through coverage and reporting the problems. The organization, through its forrights.am website, presents specific, real violations of the rights, seeks to bring it to the attention of the officials and commanders by following the course of the case and reporting positive or negative solutions.
As a result of its fact-finding work, “Journalists for Human Rights” NGO presented to the public the details of the deaths of servicemen in peaceful conditions in the RA Armed Forces. Urgent visits to the families of deceased servicemen in different regions of Armenia in many cases help to reveal the root cause of death, which alerts investigative bodies.
Hundreds of people; soldiers, parents; apply to the organization, seeing that the problems of others have been resolved through coverage that can prevent the continuation of violations. For this reason, there are sometimes allegations that the material on the website can be concluded that everything in the army is bad, that there is widespread violence, impunity, and so on. It is obvious that things are not so unambiguous and that thousands of soldiers are serving relatively quietly. But the coverage of individual cases allows to target problems and seek solutions.
The protection of the fate of the victims of violence in the army, their rights and the rights of their relatives were initially inadequately understood. The system went through “deaf and circular defense”, simultaneously applying the “offensive” tactics.
Especially after the Velvet Revolution of 2018, steps are being taken to change the basis of relations in the army by introducing mechanisms that allow soldiers to defend their rights.
But the changes have not yet reached to the root, and vicious phenomena continue, both in concealment of deaths, in impunity, and in the ineffective investigation of criminal cases.
To this day, every soldier can be a victim of the vicious phenomena that the organization is reporting on and on the basis of which this report was compiled.
We have identified a number of key phenomena which roots need to be found and corrected.
The report is available in Armenian language.
