June 14, 2004

Human Rights and the Future of Armenia\s Armed Forces

Yerevan - The American University of Armenia (AUA) Department of Law and the AUA Student Law Club hosted a free public conference on June 5, 2004, focusing on Human Rights and the Future of Armenia's Armed Forces. Over 150 people attended the conference, which was intended to raise public awareness of laws that affect the participation of Armenian citizens in the Armenian army, as well as the respect for human rights by the Armenian armed forces. "Human rights in the military is a major concern not just for soldiers and parents, but for the armed forces, too," said Anna Grigoryan, a student researcher at AUA who played a leading role to organize the conference.

"Armenia's armed forces have some of the same challenges that confront the military of any nation: How to guarantee basic human rights, while also maintaining discipline and combat readiness. The purpose of our conference was to create greater awareness of this issue. We succeeded," said Matthew Karanian, Associate Dean, AUA Law Department. "This conference featured an outstanding panel of speakers, including representatives from the highest ranks of the Ministry of Defense who attended, as well as the Special Envoy of the Council of Europe, the Chair of the Helsinki Committee, and other leading human rights organizations."

Avetick Ishkhanyan, Chair of the Helsinki Committee, noted that society and government must take measures in order to prevent the politicization of the Army, and that this is the first step in preventing crimes in the army. Vahe Meliksetyan, Assistant to General Military Prosecutor, brought forth recent statistics showing that the incidence of crime is going down in the army. NGO members and government representatives suggested that in order to prevent crime in the army, public awareness of the problem should be raised, and soldiers and their parents should be apprised of their rights and responsibilities.

Armenia's cooperation with NATO under the "Partnership for Peace" program and with CIS countries was also discussed, in addition to various interpretations of the recently accepted laws on "Citizens Who Failed to Complete Compulsory Military Service through Violation of the Established Procedure" and "Alternative Military Service."

Greta Mirzoyan, Zinvori Mayr NGO, Chair; Ruben Martirosyan, Armenia’s Human Rights Defender (Ombudsman) representative; Vahe Meliksetyan, Assistant to Armenia’s military prosecutor; Anna Grigoryan, AUA law student; Stephen Barnett, AUA Dean of Law; Matthew Karanian, AUA Associate Dean of Law

General-Major Mickael Melkonyan, Armenia’s Ministry of Defense, Head of Foreign Relations and Military Cooperation; Deputy-Colonel Sedrak Sedrakyan, Armenia’s Ministry of Defense, Head of the Legal Department