PRESS RELEASE

April 11, 2005

American University of Armenia Corporation
300 Lakeside Drive, 4th Floor
Oakland, CA 94612
Telephone: (510) 987-9452
Fax: (510) 208-3576

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

Armenian Parliamentarians Discuss Constitutional Reforms

YEREVAN — The American University of Armenia (AUA) held a law conference on
March 31 on Armenia’s pending constitutional reforms. Sponsored by the AUA
Law Department and Legal Research Center, the event featured two speakers
from the National Assembly who discussed some of the proposed constitutional
changes and who engaged the audience in a debate of the merits of several
proposed changes.

Lusine Abovian, constitutional law specialist of Armenia’s Legislative
Strengthening Program, & Members of Parliament Arshak Sadoyan and Grigor
Ghonjeyan, agreed that the amendments to the Constitution are based on the
need to harmonize Armenia’s fundamental laws with the democratic principles
accepted throughout the world. The focus of the discussion was to raise
public awareness of Armenia’s constitutional reforms, to examine suggested
draft laws of amendments, to review interpretations of proposed changes to
the constitution, and to clarify the authors’ positions on certain
provisions of the suggested amendments.

According to Arshak Sadoyan, constitutional amendments are necessary `to
reflect the state, historical and modern developments of the Armenian nation
and to foster the best structures and procedures for the consolidation of
the state, to eliminate the deficiencies in the government’s structure, and
to respond to the universal achievements and modern developments of the
Armenian nation.’

`Contemporary constitutional practice, the current problems of social
relations and democracy, the need to further improve the governing system,
the legal commitments assumed by joining the Council of Europe, problems of
fostering the human rights’ protection guarantees, call for constitutional
amendments’ stated Mr. Grigor Ghonjeyan. `It is necessary to streamline the
functional authority of various state power institutes, ensure the
counterbalance of checks and balances as well as balance the relations
between the President, the National Assembly and the Judiciary’.

The Conference was free and open to the public. Students, professors from
several local universities, representatives from international and local
NGOs, and the news media participated in the discussion.

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.

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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. The University receives major support from the AGBU and
offers instruction leading to the Masters Degree in eight graduate programs.
For more information about AUA, visit

Picture: Arshak Sadoyan, Member of Armenia’s Parliament, calls for
constitutional reforms during AUA conference.