Human rights and women in the Armed Forces in Armenia – Phase II

Start date: 1 June 2020

Duration: 31 months

Budget: EUR 630,000

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

Partners: 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 better protection of human rights in the armed forces, in particular rights of women servicepersons, as well as the effectiveness of the legal proceedings in military cases by providing legal drafting and capacity building support for the implementation of the 2020-2022 National Strategy for Human Rights Protection. The specific objective of the Project is to enhance the engagement of women in the armed forces in accordance with Council’s standards and recommendations.

Three expected results are foreseen under the project:

1. 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;
2. 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;
3. 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.
4. The Ministry of Defence, other relevant Government institutions, have enhanced capacity and the tools to deliver post 2020 outbreak of hostilities in the area of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict assistance to military personnel and their families.