On 13 June 2022, the Council of Europe under the Project “Human rights and women in the armed forces of Armenia-Phase II’’ (‘the Project’) organised a guest lecture for the cadets of the Vazgen Sargsyan Military University. The guest lecure was hosted by Council of Europe International consultant Mr Sasa Jankovich on the theme “Right of life in the military and the responsibilities of the state to protect that right’’.

The guest lecture started with an opening  by the management of the Ministry of Defence’s Human Rights and Integrity Building Centre. The guest was introduced by Ms Narine Gasparyan, National Programme Manager of the Project.

During the lecture, the students were educated about the right to life, a topic which has been receiving significant attention recently. They were prodded to think about the instances of violations of the right to life by carrying out an exercise based on the facts of a real case. The students also interacted with the speaker regarding the responsibilities of the state related to the protection of the right to life.

At the end of the guest lecture, Mr Gevorg Saribekyan, professor at the Military University underlined that the lecture was very educational and informative for the students. Ms Gasparyan mentioned that this was the first such initiative under the Project by this eminent Guest Speaker and the Project will consider the possibility of holding more such guest lectures in the future.