PRESS RELEASE

June 14, 2004

American University of Armenia Corporation
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Oakland, CA 94612
Telephone: (510) 987-9452
Fax: (510) 208-3576

Contact: Gohar Momjian
E-mail: gohar@auac.net

HUMAN RIGHTS AND THE FUTURE OF ARMENIA’S ARMED FORCES

Yerevan – The American University of Armenia (AUA) Department of Law and the
AUA Student Law Club hosted a free public conference on June 5, 2004,
focusing on Human Rights and the Future of Armenia’s Armed Forces. Over 150
people attended the conference, which was intended to raise public awareness
of laws that affect the participation of Armenian citizens in the Armenian
army, as well as the respect for human rights by the Armenian armed forces.
“Human rights in the military is a major concern not just for soldiers and
parents, but for the armed forces, too,” said Anna Grigoryan, a student
researcher at AUA who played a leading role to organize the conference.

“Armenia’s armed forces have some of the same challenges that confront the
military of any nation: How to guarantee basic human rights, while also
maintaining discipline and combat readiness. The purpose of our conference
was to create greater awareness of this issue. We succeeded,” said Matthew
Karanian, Associate Dean, AUA Law Department. “This conference featured an
outstanding panel of speakers, including representatives from the highest
ranks of the Ministry of Defense who attended, as well as the Special Envoy
of the Council of Europe, the Chair of the Helsinki Committee, and other
leading human rights organizations.”

Avetick Ishkhanyan, Chair of the Helsinki Committee, noted that society and
government must take measures in order to prevent the politicization of the
Army, and that this is the first step in preventing crimes in the army. Vahe
Meliksetyan, Assistant to General Military Prosecutor, brought forth recent
statistics showing that the incidence of crime is going down in the army.
NGO members and government representatives suggested that in order to
prevent crime in the army, public awareness of the problem should be raised,
and soldiers and their parents should be apprised of their rights and
responsibilities.

Armenia’s cooperation with NATO under the “Partnership for Peace” program
and with CIS countries was also discussed, in addition to various
interpretations of the recently accepted laws on ‘Citizens Who Failed to
Complete Compulsory Military Service through Violation of the Established
Procedure’ and ‘Alternative Military Service.’
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The American University of Armenia offers a Master’s Degree in Law and in
Comparative Legal Studies. The programs feature a strong focus on business
and international law, with special emphasis on legal and institutional
reforms in the former Soviet republics. AUA is registered as a non-profit
educational organization in both Armenia and the United States and is
affiliated with the Regents of the University of California. Receiving
major support from the AGBU, AUA offers instruction leading to the Masters
Degree in eight graduate programs. For more information about AUA, visit

Pictures:
1: Greta Mirzoyan, Zinvori Mayr NGO, Chair; Ruben Martirosyan, Armenia’s
Human
Rights Defender (Ombudsman) representative; Vahe Meliksetyan, Assistant to
Armenia’s military prosecutor; Anna Grigoryan, AUA law student; Stephen
Barnett, AUA Dean of Law; Matthew Karanian, AUA Associate Dean of Law

2: General-Major Mickael Melkonyan, Armenia’s Ministry of Defense, head of
foreign relations and military cooperation; Deputy-Colonel Sedrak Sedrakyan,
Armenia’s Ministry of Defense, head of
the legal department