The main partners and beneficiaries of the Project are Ministry of Defence (MoD); Ministry of Justice (MoJ); Office of the Representative of the Republic of Armenia Governmental Agent of the Republic of Armenia before the European Court of Human Rights (Governmental Agent); Security Council (SC); Human Rights Defender’s Office (HRDO); Justice Academy (JA), Law Enforcement Bodies and the Civil Society organisations (CSOs).
The main objective of the Project is to ensure that human rights in the armed forces in Armenia are respected and promoted, and the role of women in the military is enhanced.
Three expected results are foreseen under the project:
- Legislative, regulatory framework and procedures are improved for effectively preventing, investigating and eradicating human rights violations in the armed forces, and the commitments of state authorities on gender equality and gender mainstreaming in the armed forces are translated into action;
- Relevant institutions have enhanced capacities to prevent, conduct effective investigation of human rights violations in the armed forces, including capacities to ensure full and effective equality of women and men;
- Military officers, including gender advisors, are empowered to deal with human rights issues in the armed forces, including discrimination, and ensure strong and coherent leadership in support of implementation of gender equality and gender mainstreaming policies.
With a view to achieving these results, the following types of activities will be implemented:
- Providing recommendations on the draft legislation and other regulatory frameworks pertaining to effectively preventing, investigating and eradicating human rights violations in the armed forces, including more specifically discrimination of and inequality among women and men;
- Supporting the national stakeholders, in particular law enforcement bodies, to establish Internal regulatory instruments and procedures to ensure effective investigation of fatalities in the armed forces and full and effective equality of women and men in the military;
- Establishing a platform for improving the exchange of information and cooperation between stakeholders concerning the implementation of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and execution of the Court’s judgments related to human rights violations in the armed forces in Armenia;
- Enhancing the capacities of the HRDO for monitoring human rights violations in the armed forces;
- Training a group of gender advisors – champions of human rights – so they are able to demonstrate professional competence and increased knowledge of the relevant substantive areas of work and provide support and content expertise on mainstreaming a gender approach into key elements of the MoD’s work;
- Conducting awareness raising activities, as well as training and workshops for military personnel and future conscripts visà-vis human rights and equality in the context of the armed force;
- Conducting capacity-building activities for the newly established Unit on the Work with Women Servicepersons and to be established General Department on Health Care and Social Protection of Service Persons and Veterans’ Affairs of the MoD; Governmental Agent’s Office and the HRDO to better protect human rights in the armed forces.
