Council of Europe Secretary General’s reply to HCA Vanadzor
14:18, February 8, 2017 | News, Own news
By his letter dated February 6, 2016, the CoE Secretary General Thorbjørn Jagland reacted to Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly-Vanadzor’s Report on the draft Law on the Republic of Armenia Human Rights Defender submitted to the Secretary General back on December 8, 2016.
Note that the RA Law on Human Rights Defender was passed in the third reading on December 16, 2016 and signed on January 14, 2017. The Organization’s Assessments on the draft Law were published on December 5, 2016, and the Council of Europe Venice Commission adopted its Opinion on the draft Law at its Plenary Session in Venice, Italy, on 9-10 December 2016.
In his letter, the CoE Secretary General mentioned that the Venice Commission rapporteurs and the secretariat, who also received the Report, “found it very helpful”.
At the same time, Mr. Thorbjørn Jagland mentioned in his letter a number of provisions of the Venice Commission Opinion.
In particular, the CoE Secretary General focuses on the fact that in its Opinion the Venice Commission considered that “the draft Law largely complied with European and international standards, but suggested that a number of important recommendations be taken into account.”
In his letter, the CoE Secretary General gave importance to the recommendation below: “providing for a transparent competitive selection of the Human Rights Defender, which should include proposals from civil society and from political parties in order to enable the selection of highly qualified candidates so as to provide legitimacy to the process.”
In his letter, Mr. Thorbjørn Jagland focuses on the recommendation below: “including express provisions on the functional immunity of the Defender, the Defender’s staff and experts of the National Prevention Mechanism for words spoken or written, recommendations, decisions and other acts undertaken in good faith while performing their functions.”
After all, the CoE Secretary General also gave importance to the fulfillment of the recommendation that “the Human Rights Defender as the National Prevention Mechanism should have access to all private and public institutions where persons are held against their will, including “semi-closed” institutions and guarantee the institutional participation of NGOs in its work.”
Thus, in his letter addressed to HCA Vanadzor, the CoE Secretary General considers important to resolve the issues below under the RA Law on Human Rights Defender:
– providing for “transparent competitive” selection of the Human Rights Defender;
– ensuring functional immunity of the Human Rights Defender; and
– ensuring institutional participation of NGOs in the works of the National Preventive Mechanism
Find attached the Armenian and English texts of the letter.
Venice Commission Opinion in English: http://www.venice.coe.int/webforms/documents/default.aspx?pdffile=CDL-AD(2016)033-e