PRESS RELEASE
Council of Europe Press Division
Ref: 588a06
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European Ministers of Justice: Putting victims’ rights on paper and into
practice

Yerevan, 13.10.2006 – The Ministers of Justice of the 46 member states
of the Council of Europe today recommended taking measures to improve
assistance to victims, to reduce the chances of their also being victims
of administrative procedures and red tape, and to facilitate their
rehabilitation and compensation for the damage suffered.

Meeting in Yerevan with the Armenian Minister of Justice Davit
Harutyunyan in the chair, the European Ministers present stressed the
need to identify good practices in terms of civil and administrative
remedies to protect victims’ interests (such as legal aid and advice)
and in terms of public and private insurance schemes.

They also called on the Council of Europe to pursue its work against
domestic violence by looking into the need for and feasibility of a
further legal instrument, specifically on violence against partners.

Welcoming the drafting of a European convention against the sexual
exploitation of children, the Ministers pointed out that it was
important for it to include victims’ rights, as does the European
Convention against trafficking in human beings (2005).

The Armenian Prime Minister Andranik Margaryan was present at the
opening of the conference.

The text of the resolution adopted by the conference is available on

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A political organisation set up in 1949, the Council of Europe works to
promote democracy and human rights continent-wide. It also develops
common responses to social, cultural and legal challenges in its 46
member states.