On the 14th of December the Chairman of the Board of “Civil Society Institute” NGO and FIDH Secretary General Artak Kirakosyan together with CSI NGO president Arman Danielyan presented the 2011 Report on the Protection of the Human Rights Defenders around the world.

It was prepared by the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, which is the joint project of International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and International Organization Against Torture (OMCT).

The report presents actions directed against the human rights defenders which took place in 70 countries from January 2010 to April 2011. The report was presented by the member organizations of FIDH. The information on Armenia was presented by the Armenian member organization Civil Society Institute NGO.

The general description shows that the defenders are relatively more protected in Western European countries and the USA. The revolutions and freedom movements in the Arab world are estimated positively in the report. “On the other hand as a result of this estimates in some other countries the state governments took preventative measures and strengthened violence and pressure of defenders and oppositionists, being afraid of revolution, such as in Belarus”, said Artak Kirakosyan.

In Armenia the Observatory outlined the problem of the RA draft Law “on Non-Governmental Organizations”, which according to experts was a threat for NGO sector therefore it was removed from the agenda as a result of the pressure of the civil society.

The other problem was connected with the digitalization process of the TV channels, which resulted in closing of some TV channels, as well as not giving A1+ TV channel the possibility to be aired. The report also summarizes the political state in Armenia and the fact that there is still no productive investigation of 2008 March cases.

The report includes the cases of pressure and the criminal cases launched against young activists (Ani and Sargis Gevorgyan, Davit Kiramijyan) protesting in May 2010 for the right to hold protests in the Liberty square.

The human rights observatory didn’t ignore the criminal case launched against lawyer Mushegh Shushanyan, which was dismissed because the article was anti-constitutional. It also didn’t ignore the criminal case launched against Mariam Sukhudyan and later dismissed, because of which she didn’t manage to receive compensation for moral damage in the local courts. Also the observatory paid attention to the criminal case launched against the journalist and photographer of the Helsinki Association in Armenia Arshaluys Hakobyan.

According to Artak Kirakosyan after 2008 there are some positive changes as it usually happens in the period between elections.

“But there are elections ahead and they are going to be a real challenge for us”, says Artak Kirakosyan predicting that the situation will be even heated during the presidential elections.

He thinks that Armenia is among those countries where through reforms it is possible to achieve positive changes unlike in case of Belarus, where the change of the regime is more probable through revolution.

The report presents the situation of human rights defenders in the West European countries in a general manner. There is a separate review of Turkey, where there are many cases of violence and pressures against the defenders, especially against the defenders who protect the rights of Kurds. For example, up to 36 years of imprisonment is provisioned for writer and sociologist Pinar Selek, who already for 13 years defends the rights of women and national minorities. The charges against him according to the report are unfounded and inaccurate.

“Defenders of Central Asia continued their work in a context that was difficult, often hostile and dangerous”, says the report.

According to Kirakosyan, among the European countries the worst situation is in Belarus, where the pressure against the defenders is huge. Recently the president of “Viasna” Center and the vice-president of FIDH Ales Bialiatski was sentenced for 4.5 years. In Armenia, as in other countries, during the presentation of the report the seat of the speaker Ales Bialiatski was left vacant as a call for setting him free.

The full 2011 report on the protection of defenders can be found here. The part of the report referring to Armenia is here.

Mary Alexanyan

Source: www.hra.am