Armenia Joined Two UN Optional Protocols

PanARMENIAN.Net
23.09.2006 13:43 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenia joined two UN optional protocols – the
Convention against Torture and the Convention on the Elimination
of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. Deputy Minister of
Territorial Administration Gagik Yeganyan handed the documents in
deposit to the UN Secretary General.

The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
against Women adopted in 1979 by the UN General Assembly, is often
described as an international bill of rights for women. Consisting of
a preamble and 30 articles, it defines what constitutes discrimination
against women and sets up an agenda for national action to end such
discrimination. The Convention defines discrimination against women as
"…any distinction, exclusion or restriction made on the basis of
sex which has the effect or purpose of impairing or nullifying the
recognition, enjoyment or exercise by women, irrespective of their
marital status, on a basis of equality of men and women, of human
rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social,
cultural, civil or any other field."

"Each State Party shall take effective legislative, administrative,
judicial or other measures to prevent acts of torture in any territory
under its jurisdiction…No exceptional circumstances whatsoever,
whether a state of war or a threat or war, internal political
instability or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a
justification of torture," says the Convention against Torture.

The optional protocol to Convention against Tortures was approves in
late 2002 and came into force in June 2006. It allows the UN experts
attend the jails of the Convention member states and calls for
creation of national mechanisms targeted at prevention of tortures,
reports the UN communication unit.