On February 25, 2009 Human Rights Watch international human rights organization published its report titled "Democracy on rocky ground" that included information about 2008 Presidential elections of Armenia, post-election violence, and one-sided pursuit of accountability. Rachel Denber, deputy head of Europe and Central Asia department of Human rights watch was present in Yerevan from March 19-23. Her exclusive interview given to "Capital" newspaper is presented here.

-Mrs. Denber, You haven't been to Armenia for about 10 years. How would you explain your current visit?

- Me and my colleague Researcher of Europe and Central Asia department of Human rights watch Georgi Gogian (who is the main author of the report) have come to Armenia to present the authorities and the public, our recently published report on March 1-2 events in Yerevan. We consider that connection and dialogue with the authorities is very important. We want to present our work ourselves, to talk with the officials about our conclusions and necessary recommendations, to hear their opinions whether they are ready to follow those recommendations. This is our main objective to visit Armenia.

-Have you managed to have meetings with the authorities, and how effective were they?

-Yes, we are satisfied with the meetings. We have had meetings with those people, with whom we had preliminary arrangements except for the police. We were well accepted, and the meetings and discussions were efficient. We met head of the Special Investigative Service Vahagn Harutyunyan, RA human rights' defender, head of the committee investigating March 1 events Samvel Nikoyan, and Representative of RA Presidential Administration Vigen Sargsyan.

-There was some criticism after publication of the report, particularly, by the representatives of the Republican party, as well as by Samvel Nikoyan, head of NA committee. It was said that all these organizations, including Human Rights Watch are politicized, and pursue some objectives. What do you think about this?

-Every person has a right to criticize our report. It is their right and it does not offend us. I would like to draw attention to one circumstance, when the report was published at first the whole translation was not ready yet, and only conclusions and recommendations were presented in Armenian. Summary of March 1 chaotic situation was not included, and very important details were missing. People who read only the summary can not get the whole image of the report. This is one thing, and the second one is that during our meetings nobody blamed us, that we had had a special concern or pursued other political objectives when writing the report. Quite the contrary, we were told that "we don't think that the report is politicized, but we have a concern that the reputation of Human Rights Watch can be used by this or that political power, and be politicized".

 I think it is very good for the authorities when there are non-interested organizations. We are independent, and record and use only non-disputable facts, in any case, we do our best in that direction. We talk to the witnesses and victims in a very detailed manner. Very often we interview in such details that people are get tired. We don't use the whole material very often, as it does not seem to be trustworthy enough. So I am sure that they don't think in reality that we are politicized. This or that party politicizes the report very often, but whatever is included in the report is founded on facts.

-Does you organization usually work in different countries only during the crisis, when human rights are violated massively?

- Human Rights Watch operates not only during crisis. We also deal with such violations of human rights that are grave and long-term. For instance refugees' rights violations in many countries of the world.

-It is for the first time that a report about Armenia is published in a book format, as well as in Armenian and English. Why is it so?

-We have had different publications about Armenia. This time beautiful design makes such an impression. We published a report in 2003, when there were violations with administrative detention and following 2004 April events. This report is a very important work done by us. I hope that the report will serve as an impulse to hold the representatives of law enforcement bodies who exerted violence over people who did not cause any danger accountable. I will be very glad for such a process, I will be also glad if our recommendations related to the reforms will be taken into account. The work done by us is not aimed at making noise and showing what we have done, but it's a work that will bring changes.  

-What does your experience show? What impact do published reports have on the countries?  As far as I am aware your reports are true and are very important also for European institutions. Do you enjoy the fruits of your work?

-We see the results of our work. Our work is also connected to work of different human rights organizations. So it's not only the result of our work. Yes, we see positive results of our work in many European countries, even in Russia, which is not only a result of the work of our organization, but also a result of years of human rights campaign in the country.

-People were waiting for the report in Armenia and it was published quite late about after a year. Weren't you afraid that it could be too late?

-We were following the development of the events, and wanted to have a full image of the events. One year had to be enough so that the authorities held guilty policemen accountable.  We were waiting for the results of the investigation, and as they did not appear, we decided to show the report now to say that the investigation is being continued, but their results are not seen. We are aware that the investigation still continues, the committee also operates, but the problem of accountability is pursued one-sided.

-During last years your organization has become more popular in Armenia and very often a question is raised why you don't always follow human rights violations here.

-People think if it is a large international organization then it has unlimited capabilities. In fact Human Rights Watch is a large organization but our resources are limited.

-And at last what would you wish for RA authorities and Armenian people.

-I would wish to see such circumstances in Armenia so that the people trusted the authorities, and the authorities were responsible for the people. 

Interview was taken by Zhanna Aleksanyan