Enhancing Health Care and Human Rights Protection in Prisons in Armenia

Start date: 1 November 2019

Duration: 30 months

Budget: EUR 750,000

Donor: The Council of Europe Action Plan for Armenia 2019-2022

Partners: Ministry of Justice, Penitentiary Medicine Centre

This 30-months project was part of the Council of Europe Action Plan for Armenia 2019-2022. It was implemented by the Council of Europe in co-operation with the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Health and the Penitentiary Medicine Center.

The aim of the project was to further support the national authorities in reforming healthcare provision and human rights for sentenced persons in Armenia in line with the European standards.

Attention was given to the following three areas:

• Enhancing regulatory and operational framework for provision of in line with European standards;

• Improvement of the material conditions and the provision of healthcare in prisons;

• Capacity building of the Penitentiary Medicine Centre (PMC). 

The project particularly focused on the improvement of prison healthcare services through introduction of new technologies in healthcare services, such as telemedicine and electronic database system of medical records, ensuring protection of healthcare rights of mentally-ill persons in penitentiary institutions, improvement of preventive healthcare, particularly sanitary-epidemiological and hygienic conditions and control mechanism, modernising hospital/specialised medical care and services in the penitentiary institutions. Project activities significantly contributed to improving effectiveness, transparency and accountability of penitentiary prison healthcare in general and the PMC in particular. Proper documentation and reporting on indications of torture, ill-treatment, inhumane and degrading treatment were in focus and properly addressed.