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In 2022, reforms were carried on in the judicial system, fight against corruption, enforcement, criminal justice, criminal probation and a number of other spheres. The RA Minister of Justice Grigor Minasyan said this introducing the report on the Process and Results of the Government Program Implementation of the Republic of Armenia (2021-2026) for 2022 to debate at the extraordinary sitting of the NA Standing Committee on Protection of Human Rights and Public Affairs on March 17.

In 2022, the new, open participatory process of implementing constitutional reforms was launched, the Council for Constitutional Reforms and the Specialized Commission were formed.

The process of identifying and solving the problems raised during the previous elections has also started. A reference will be made to the selection of local centers, equipment of the voting room, so that the right to vote for persons with disabilities can be exercised more smoothly. The opportunity of faster and more flexible inclusion in the temporary lists of voters will be designed. Provision of tools for independent voting of visually impaired persons will also be debated.

The works of forming the Anti-Corruption Court have been completed. The Appellate Anti-Corruption Court is also established, and two separate Civil and Administrative Chambers were formed instead of the Civil and Administrative Chamber in the Court of Cassation, and a new Anti-Corruption Chamber was also created, ensuring the three-level anti-corruption judicial chain.

The salaries of the Constitutional and Cassation Courts judges were increased. Steps have been taken to facilitate the workload of judges, etc.

The deputies asked questions to the Minister Grigor Minasyan. Zemfira Mirzoeva inquired why the report does not contain any provision regarding the protection of national minorities’ rights. According to the deputy’s assessment, there is a setback regarding the rights of national minorities, because there is no progress. Neither the Minister of Justice nor the deputies agreed with this viewpoint, urging their colleague to present facts. “I do not agree with your assessments at all. There is absolutely no regress. And if there is, please speak with facts,” Grigor Minasyan said. “If there is no progress, it does not mean that there is regress”, the Committee member Artur Hovhannisyan underscored, noting that all citizens of the Republic of Armenia are equal for the power and the Government in terms of rights and responsibility, regardless of nationality, religion and other affiliations, as defined by the RA Constitution.

The Committee members Knyaz Hasanov and Rustam Bakoyan, who are representatives of national minorities as well, did not share Zemfira Mirzoeva’s viewpoint. Rustam Bakoyan mentioned that there are some problems in the sector that need to be solved. As a problem, the deputy mentioned, in particular, the lack of Yazidi language teachers. “Our Government has enough will to listen and provide solutions to the problems, we have work to do here,” Rustam Bakoyan stressed.

In his closing remark, the Minister of Justice Grigor Minasyan informed that the action plan of the Human Rights Strategy was introduced for public debate, in which the adoption of the law on national minorities is a cornerstone. The draft was developed by the Ministry of Justice, and it is almost ready. The Minister offered the deputy representing the Assyrian community Zemfira Mirzoeva to cooperate on the draft improvement.

The Committee took note of the report.