Strengthening the Protection of the Rights of Persons in Detention in Armenia

Building upon the results achieved from the implementation of the Project “Enhancing healthcare and human rights protection in prisons in Armenia”, the Project “Strengthening the Protection of the Rights of Persons in Detention” financed by Council of Europe Action Plan for Armenia 2023 – 2026 assists the Armenian authorities to further enhance penitentiary reform and prison health care, and the protection of the human rights of persons deprived of liberty. The Council of Europe is providing support at policy and operational levels assisting authorities to accomplish penitentiary reform goals and trigger changes in practices throughout the prison system especially after the adoption of the Criminal Code, Criminal Procedural Code as well as Penitentiary Code in June 2022.
The Project is implemented in close cooperation with the Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Health, Prison Medicine Centre, as well as other stakeholders including the civil society organisations.
The Project focuses on following priority areas:

Further enhancing the institutional capacity of the Prison Medicine Centre in order to provide quality health care in the penitentiary system;
Further consolidating the knowledge and skills of medical and non-medical staff on different topics on provision of health care;
Strengthening the capacities of prison staff to apply tools and rehabilitation programmes for persons deprived of liberty;
Harmonizing the regulatory framework on human rights with the new Penitentiary Code.

The key Conventions for this Project are the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (ECHR), as well as the findings and the recommendations of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) and the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR).
The duration of the Project was set at 24 months, and it was completed on 31 December 2024, with an overall budget of 550 000 Euros.

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Back Starting two new continuation Projects ‘’Strengthening the Protection of the Rights of Persons in Detention” and “Strengthening the Probation Service in Armenia”

@ Council of Europe

The first joint Steering Committee (SC) Meeting of the Projects “Strengthening the Protection of the Rights of Persons in Detention” and “Strengthening the Probation Service in Armenia” was held on 15 March 2023 to mark the beginning of these two Projects and agree on Plans of Action
During the opening Mr Levon Balyan, Deputy Minister of Justice of Armenia, emphasized the significance of ongoing co-operation among the Council of Europe and the Ministry of Justice in the fields of probation, and penitentiary, highlighting the importance of its continuation.

Mr Armen Nazaryan, Deputy Minister of Health of Armenia was also in attendance of the SC meeting, and he underlined the utmost importance of the process of transfer of the prison health care service from the Ministry of Justice to the Ministry of Health. A careful planning and organisation of this transfer and continuation of care provided to inmates will be essential for the whole process.

The overall goals and results to be achieved within the framework of two Projects, as well as the Work Plan for the period of March – December 2023 were presented during the meeting. The members of the SC provided comments and suggestions and approved the overall and the 9-month Work Plans.

The above-mentioned Projects are financed within the framework of the Council of Europe Action Plan for Armenia 2023-2026.

Yerevan, Armenia 15 March 2023