Strasbourg, 13.02.2007 – The Council of Europe’s expert body on combating racism, the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI), today released five new reports examining racism, xenophobia, antisemitism and intolerance in Armenia, Georgia, Iceland, Portugal and Slovenia. ECRI recognises that positive developments have occurred in all five of these Council of Europe member countries.

Foreword

The European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) was established by
the Council of Europe. It is an independent human rights monitoring body
specialised in questions relating to racism and intolerance. It is composed of
independent and impartial members, who are appointed on the basis of their moral
authority and recognised expertise in dealing with racism, xenophobia,
antisemitism and intolerance.

One of the pillars of ECRI’s work programme is its country-by-country approach,
whereby it analyses the situation as regards racism and intolerance in each of
the member States of the Council of Europe and makes suggestions and proposals
as to how to tackle the problems identified.

The country-by-country approach deals with all member States of the Council of
Europe on an equal footing. The work is taking place in 4/5 year cycles,
covering 9/10 countries per year. The reports of the first round were completed
at the end of 1998 and those of the second round at the end of the year 2002.
Work on the third round reports started in January 2003.

The third round reports focus on “implementation”. They examine if ECRI’s main
recommendations from previous reports have been followed and implemented, and if
so, with what degree of success and effectiveness. The third round reports deal
also with “specific issues”, chosen according to the different situations in the
various countries, and examined in more depth in each report.

The working methods for the preparation of the reports involve documentary
analyses, a contact visit in the country concerned, and then a confidential
dialogue with the national authorities.

ECRI’s reports are not the result of inquiries or testimonial evidences. They
are analyses based on a great deal of information gathered from a wide variety
of sources. Documentary studies are based on an important number of national and
international written sources. The in situ visit allows for meeting directly the
concerned circles (governmental and non-governmental) with a view to gathering
detailed information. The process of confidential dialogue with the national
authorities allows the latter to propose, if they consider it necessary,
amendments to the draft report, with a view to correcting any possible factual
errors which the report might contain. At the end of the dialogue, the national
authorities may request, if they so wish, that their viewpoints be appended to
the final report of ECRI.

The following report was drawn up by ECRI under its own and full
responsibility. It covers the situation as of 30 June 2006 and any development
subsequent to this date is not covered in the following analysis nor taken into
account in the conclusions and proposal made by ECRI.



Executive summary

Since the publication of ECRI’s first report on Armenia on 8 July 2003, progress
has been made in a number of the fields highlighted in that report. On 15
October 2004, Armenia ratified Protocol No. 12 to the European Convention on
Human Rights. The Armenian authorities have also amended the Constitution to
provide for equality before the law for everyone under Armenian jurisdiction.
Furthermore, on 1 August 2003, the Armenian authorities adopted a new Criminal
Code which sanctions hate crimes. They have also created a Department of
National Minorities and Religious Affairs which is, inter alia, entrusted with
promoting minority languages and cultures. They have further amended the Law on
Refugees to provide for temporary protection and passed a Law on Alternative
Service. In 2004, the Armenian authorities created an Ombudsman’s office.

However, a number of recommendations made in ECRI’s first report have not been
implemented, or have only been partially implemented. Although a bill on
national minorities has been drafted, some minority representatives and NGOs
have not endorsed it as they consider that it would bring little change to the
existing situation. No comprehensive body of civil and administrative
anti-discrimination provisions has been passed. The Yezidi minority continues to
face problems with regard to land, water and grazing issues and some members of
this community have still not acquired property titles for their land. A system
for providing national minorities with greater access to the civil and political
life of the country has yet to be established. There is also still a need for
more and improved textbooks for minority pupils. The Law on Alternative Service
as it currently stands does not provide a viable form of alternative civilian
service for conscientious objectors who are primarily Jehovah’s Witnesses.

In this report, ECRI recommends that the Armenian authorities take further
action in a number of areas. ECRI recommends that the Armenian authorities adopt
a law on national minorities which takes into account, as much as possible,
national minorities’ suggestions and points of view. It recommends that the
Armenian authorities take more steps to address the problems faced by the Yezidi
community, particularly with regard to policing, land, water and grazing
disputes. ECRI also recommends that the Armenian authorities take measures to
ensure minority access to the country’s public and political life. It recommends
that the Armenian authorities continue to take measures to ensure equal access
to education for minorities by, inter alia, providing for positive measures to
increase their chances of entering higher education institutions. Moreover, ECRI
recommends that the Armenian authorities amend the Law on Alternative Service to
provide a genuine alternative civilian service to conscientious objectors.

Please find the full text of the report:

Second report on Armenia

Adopted on 30 June 2006 made public on 13 February 2007



Report on Armenia – English version


Report on Armenia – Armenian version