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On May 11, the RA National Assembly continued the work of the regular sittings, passing by voting the legislative initiatives debated on May 8.

The draft law on Making Addenda and Amendments to the RA Constitutional Law on Referendum authored by the RA NA deputies Hamazasp Danielyan and Heriknaz Tigranyan was debated in the second reading.

The endorsements made by the RA NA Standing Committee on State and Legal Affairs, as well as the Government on the draft law.

The Chair of the Investigative Committee Studying the Legality, Substantiation and Trustworthiness of the Financial and Other Reports presented to the Bodies of the Executive Power and Accepted by them in the Frameworks of the Investment Programmes in the Sphere of Metal Mining Sergey Bagratyan presented the RA NA draft decision on Extending the Term of the Committee activities. He has informed that the Committee proposes extending the term of the authority of the Committee for three months by the decision made on April 30, in order to complete the works and submit a conclusion to the National Assembly.

Afterwards the RA Human Rights Defender (HRD) Arman Tatoyan presented for the legislators’ debate the Annual Programme on the Activities of the RA Human Rights Defender, the Situation of the Protection of Human Rights and Freedoms during 2019 and the Annual Report on the Activities of the RA Human Rights Defender of 2019 as National Preventive Mechanisms. The Human Rights Defender has informed that the recorded successes and the problems and violations demanding urgent solutions in different spheres are presented by the programme.

The Human Rights Defender documented with satisfaction during the financial year the authority of the RA HRD Office in the international different structures, which was reflected in their reports.

The Ombudsman answered the MPs’ various questions and remarks.

The MPs’ questions related to the authorities, the rights of the Human Rights Defender, the protection of the persons serving in the Armed Forces, the medical service being rendered in the criminal-executive institutions, the protection of the rights of the convicts and the arrested in the criminal-executive institutions, and the activity of the judicial power.

About three dozens of deputies delivered speeches on the report. They thanked the HRD and the employees of the Office for implementing effective and huge amount of work and operatively responding the MPs’ documents in written form. The proposals presented in the report were highlighted. The parliamentarians voiced a number of problems and talked about the gaps noted in the report.

The legislators spoke about a number of bad phenomena existing in our society, particularly violence cases in the family, protection of women’s rights, the ways of their overcoming, highlighting in that issue the role and significance of the educational system. In the context of the protection of human rights, the MPs related to the Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse. The deputies condemned all forms of violence. They also touched upon the dispute between the deputy of the NA My Step Faction Sasun Mikayelyan and the Head of the Bright Armenia Edmon Marukyan and voiced assessments.

The National Assembly will continue the work of the sitting on May 12.