On 13 April, the Council of Europe cooperation Project on “Protection of Human Rights in Biomedicine II” was officially launched in Yerevan with the first Steering Committee Meeting. The Project is the logical continuation of the first ever and extremely successful cooperation project in the sphere of the Protection of Human Rights in biomedicine and will be implemented within the Council of Europe Action Plan for Armenia 2023-2026. The main partners of the Project are the Ministry of Health, the Office of the Human Rights Defender, the Ministry of Justice, the relevant standing committees of the National Assembly, National Institute of Health.
The meeting was co-chaired by Martina SCHMIDT, Head of the Council of Europe office in Armenia, Anahit Avanesyan, the Minister of Health of RA, Nicola-Daniele Cangemi, Head of Human Rights, Justice and Legal Co-operation Standard-Setting Activities Department of the Council of Europe. “The Council of Europe will continue cooperation based on already achieved results, particularly in areas of setting standards for the legal framework in the field of healthcare and biomedicine, strengthening skills of healthcare professionals on ethical and biomedical principles, further development of ethics committees and enhancing their capacities, protection of rights in the field of mental healthcare, improve health literacy and public dialogue on healthcare issues”, Martina Schmidt pointed out in her opening remarks. Anahit Avanesyan, the Minister of Health has also highlighted the importance of the continuation of the Project on promotion of human rights standards in the field of biomedicine and healthcare.
During the first Steering Committee meeting, the project team presented the activities that will be implemented across four areas of the project: supporting the national authorities in their efforts to bring the legal norms in the field of biomedicine and healthcare closer to the European human rights and ethical standards; strengthening healthcare and legal professionals’ skills and capacities to apply human rights and ethical standards in their daily practice; further establishing the Ethics Committee for healthcare professionals, as well as strengthening the capacities of healthcare professionals on adopted ethical rules and supporting the development of public dialogue on human rights issues in the field of biomedicine and healthcare.
The members of the SC provided comments and suggestions and approved the overall and the 8-month Work Plan of the Project.
