On 18 July 2019 Ms Natalia Voutova, Head of the Council of Europe Office in Yerevan, H.E. Ms Judith Farnworth, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to Armenia and Mr Davit Tonoyan, Minister of Defence of the Republic of Armenia, held a trilateral meeting to discuss the co-operation in the area of human rights and gender equality in the armed forces in Armenia.

The meeting was initiated by the Council of Europe to mark the recent start of the Project “Human rights and women in the armed forces in Armenia”. The Project is funded by the UK Government’s Conflict, Stability and Security Fund and implemented by the Council of Europe.

Mr Tonoyan welcomed his partners and expressed his satisfaction with the results of the completed Project “Strengthening the application of European human rights standards in the armed forces in Armenia”.

Ms Voutova presented the main objectives of the new Project aimed to support the Government in their efforts to enhance the human rights protection in the armed forces and guarantee equal service conditions for all servicepersons. Ms Voutova mentioned that the issue of ensuring equality in the army is linked to the level of women empowerment in general, as well as the level of awareness and acknowledgment of the problem of gender discrimination. In particular, Ms Voutova stressed the importance of the ratification of the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence by the Republic of Armenia.

Ambassador Ms Farnworth spoke about the importance to bring the best possible expertise to support the reforms directed at the prevention of human rights violations in the armed forces and promoting the role and the rights of women in the army.

The participants discussed the importance of human rights education, capacity building activities for the Human Rights and Integrity Building Centre, as well as the co-operation with the Government Agent before the European Court of Human Rights and the need for a concerted action for better execution of the Court’s judgments.

Mr Tonoyan thanked the Council of Europe and the UK Government for their support and underlined its firm commitment to co-operate and promote the application of European human rights standards in the Armenian army.