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“In 2020, military actions of the Azerbaijani armed forces and the illegal presence of the Azerbaijani troops in some parts of our country fundamentally changed the features and directions of the activities of the Human Rights Defender,” the RA Human Rights Defender Kristinne Grigoryan said at the regular sitting of the National Assembly on May 4, presenting the annual report on the RA Ombudsman’s activities and the state of protection of human rights and freedoms for 2021.

She noted that the implementation of round-the-clock fact-finding work was very necessary in 2020 and 2021.

In the reporting year, intensive work was carried out to collect evidence of war crimes of the Azerbaijani armed forces in the context of military actions, to give a necessary legal assessment and submit them to the international structures.

It was stated that the Staff of the Human Rights Defender carried out this work in the conditions of the pandemic.

Regular visits were made to the border settlements headed by the Human Rights Defender in 2021, as a result of which the reports on the recorded violations were developed and submitted to the competent state bodies and the international structures.

Based on the records, the idea of creating a demilitarized security zone in the neighborhood of the settlements on the border with Azerbaijan was presented as a fundamental proposal, which was reflected in the resolution adopted by the PACE in January this year.

Kristinne Grigoryan referred to the guarantees of the Ombudsman’s activities. It was noted that the legislative guarantees, which ensure the necessary level of institutional independence, are also considered to be a guarantee of the efficiency of the Ombudsman’s work.

According to her, in practice, the Ombudsman registered cases which contained real dangers of obstacles to her activities. One of them was the spread of hatred, insults, as well as obviously false or misleading information from fake pages or accounts in connection with the Ombudsman’s activities.

It was also underlined that according to the Ombudsman’s Staff, the News program of the Public Television ignored the Ombudsman’s publications related to the important events taking place in the country.

Kristinne Grigoryan highlighted the fulfilment of a function of the Human Rights Defender in the improvement of the legislation

The previous Human Rights Defender stressed the importance of joint work with the Ombudsman and the Standing Committees of the National Assembly.

Kristinne Grigoryan informed that according to the official definition of the co-rapporteurs of the PACE Monitoring Committee in November 2021, institutional counterbalances are in the stage of construction in Armenia. It was noted that the Ombudsman has already provided a functioning system of checks and balances.

In the resolution of the PACE in January 2022, the Human Rights Defender Institution was once again mentioned as an effective institution of checks and balances. It was stated that the Ombudsman’s independence has been firmly established.

The RA Human Rights Defender also presented statistics: if 14.780 application-complaints were received in 2020, then in 2021, their number exceeded 21.000.

The dynamics of applications received a positive solution is as follows: in 2020, it is 2200, and the number of those applications is more than 2750 in 2021.

Kristinne Grigoryan informed that according to the results of a public opinion poll published by the U.S. International Republican Institute in January 2022, 68% of citizens who participated in the public opinion poll were satisfied with the Ombudsman’s activities.

She attached importance to the fact that the annual report of the Human Rights Defender and the annual report on the Activities of the RA Human Rights Defender as a National Preventive Mechanism for 2021 were published during the tenure of the previous Ombudsman Arman Tatoyan.

The RA Human Rights Defender Kristinne Grigoryan answered to the deputies’ questions which were related to the problems existing in the sphere, the Ombudsman’s activities and the upcoming programs.

The deputies who participated in the exchange of ideas mainly gave a positive assessment to the annual report of the RA Human Rights Defender for 2021.

The deputy of the Civil Contract Faction Vigen Khachatryan noted that the Human Rights Defender Institution plays an important role in the formation of our society and in strengthening and improving the statehood. “Our state makes a transition from a totalitarian system to a democratic one during the last 30 years, which has its very important aspects in a positive way and, of course, has internal complications,” the NA deputy said. He considered the formation and the establishment of the Ombudsman institute an important achievement. According to Vigen Khachatryan, the RA Human Rights Defender has not done its responsibilities badly. The deputy proposed to legislate that the Ombudsman cannot hold any political position for at least 5 years after taking office, as the Ombudsman must be independent, refrain from the temptation to engage in politics while in office.

“Our rights begin with our freedoms. Our republic should be an independent country. Citizens should be independent in their country. We want our society to change,” the deputy Gurgen Arsenyan said.

Referring to the actions of disobedience of the parliamentary opposition, he noted that a process is going on in the streets, the purpose of which is to deprive the citizens of their freedoms. It was noted that the right to choose the power is one of the most important freedoms of a citizen. “We should speak directly to the society. The opposition is carrying out political activities without content. They sow distrust among the people in terms of managing their own destiny,” the NA deputy said.

In was also mentioned that we must be able to soberly manage the present and future of our country.

In her final speech, the RA Human Rights Defender expressed readiness to continue the intensive cooperation with the parliamentary standing committees.