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On October 16, the RA NA Standing Committee on Protection of Human Rights and Public Affairs debated in the second reading and endorsed a number of legislative initiatives.

The draft law on Making Amendments and Addenda in Family Code of the Republic of Armenia with attached legislative package was debated. The RA Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Tatevik Stepanyan informed that after adopting it in the first reading substantive amendments were not made.

The foundations for implementing child protection in communities are strengthened by the initiative through the introduction of a paid professional function and system, and defines clear powers to be implemented by social workers in the community, which include the identification, assessment, monitoring, and prevention of child protection cases.

The draft law on Making Amendments and Addenda to the RA Constitutional Law on Human Rights Defender authored by the deputy of the NA Civil Contract Faction Rustam Bakoyan was debated in the second reading.

As the author informed, during the period from the first to the second reading the draft has not been amended because of lack of proposals.

In particular, the bill increases the powers of the Human Rights Defender. The latter conducts research on issues regarding the human rights and freedoms, and based on the results of the research, he or she may issue extraordinary reports or broadcasts.

The Defender is authorized to implement measures aimed at raising the level of awareness among the public, to promote the alignment of the RA legislation and its implementation with international human rights standards.

The RA Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Armen Ghazaryan presented to the Committee members for the debate the legislative package Legislative package on Making Addenda to the Law Prevention of Violence in the Family, Protection of Persons Subjected to Violence in the Family and on Making Addenda to the Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia.

As a result of adopting the package, a person who has committed domestic violence will be required to wear an electronic monitoring device, as well as be held liable for avoiding or refusing to wear an electronic monitoring device.

The Committee made the decision on Monitoring the Implementation of Laws in the Field of Human rights protection. According to it, in order to carry out parliamentary monitoring of the implementation of laws related to the Committee’s areas of activity, obtain necessary information and analyze it, visits will be made to penitentiaries, orphanages, care centers and military units in 2025.