Human rights are violated systematically in Armenia and the defense of human rights is not perceived in itself especially by the RA highest authorities. This was the announcements of the first Ombudsman of Armenia, Larissa Alaverdyan. She said that by the decree of Robert Kocharyan since January 4 the country did not have an Ombudsman for 40 days, while according to the Constitution each citizen has the right to protect his rights. “My work for the last two years showed that everyone accepts and respects human rights but when it comes to acting, the authorities mainly treat it as something declared and not real.”

Larissa Alaverdyan stressed that human rights are usually violated in the higher authorities. She noted that very often people who want to protect their rights are simply beaten up. Noting that human rights are violated in all the countries, Mrs. Alaverdyan said that in some countries those violating human rights are punished and in others they are not.

She informed that they have cooperated with several state structures and the cooperation has had positive results in the lower and middle rings of the authorities more often than in the higher and highest ones.

According to Mrs. Alaverdyan, only 25% of all the Armenians live in Armenia, and the rest live in other countries as national minorities. So Armenia must protect the rights of the national minorities. And as there are many refugees in Armenia, We must protect the rights of refugees, families of soldiers and those who were disabled after the war.

According to Mrs. Alaverdyan the authorities which cannot protect the rights of theses weak groups are weak themselves. She brought many examples when the rights of these very groups are violated by the authorities. She reminded the cases when refuges were deprived of their houses or the lands of perished soldiers were given to high officials.

By the way, Larissa Alaverdyan brought another fact: Minister of Transport and Communication Andranik Manoukyan took away the mill of an LTD. The court decided to return the property to its owner but the court workers and the Ombudsman’s office were unable to carry out the court decision.

By the way, Mrs. Alaverdyan noted that in this case when there is no political will no protect human rights the will of the society will get stronger.

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