On 31 October 2019, the joint Council of Europe/European Union regional project “Strengthening access to justice through non-judiciary redress mechanisms for victims of discrimination, hate crime and hate speech in Eastern Partnership countries” supported the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia, in cooperation with the Ministry of Justice in organising a one-day panel discussion entitled “Draft Law on National Minorities: issues, concerns and opportunities”. The purpose of the panel was to address issues raised by national minorities and to include their comments into the draft Law.

Opening remarks were made by Ms Kristinne Grigorian, Deputy Minister of Justice, Ms Karine Soudjaian, Head of Human Rights and Humanitarian Issues at the Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ms Natalia Voutova, Head of the Council of Europe Office in Yerevan, Mr Arayik Navoyan Armenia’s expert of the Advisory Committee for the Council of Europe Framework Convention on the Protection of National Minorities (FCNM).

Prof. Dr. Tove Malloy, former Member of Advisory Committee FCNM elected in respect of Denmark, Council of Europe's expert has been invited to share her experiences in the perspectives of implementation of the laws on national minorities and good practices. Mr Vardan Astcatrian, Head of the Ethnic Minorities and Religious Affairs Division at the Office of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia has presented national minorities’ joint comments on the draft Law.

On this occasion, after a fruitful discussion, participants agreed to gather all comments and suggestions and organise one more discussion before the submission of the final version of the Law to the Parliament.

This event is a follow-up to the expert opinion on the draft Law on the exercise of the rights of persons belonging to national minorities from the point of view of both the FCNM and the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages which the Council of Europe provided last year.

This project is funded by the European Union and the Council of Europe, and implemented by the Council of Europe through the Partnership for Good Governance II.