"PEOPLE SHOULD SAFEGUARD THEIR RIGHTS"

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[04:15 pm] 10 December, 2007

Election conduct testifies to the level of human rights protection in
countries. We cannot speak of human rights protection if elections are
faked, head of the OSCE Office in Yerevan Sergey Kapinos announced
today during the events dedicated to International Day of Human
Rights Protection.

In this respect he highlighted the 2008 presidential elections
in Armenia.

Armenia’s Human Rights Ombudsman Armen Harutiunian shared his stance
and noted that the country is already taking efforts to champion human
rights. The Constitutional amendments of 2005 and the parliamentary
elections of 2007 manifest to Armenia’s will-power.

Human rights protection is a priority of the national security,
Armen Harutiunian said. He highly assessed the recent changes in the
legislative sphere at the same time mentioning that they are sometimes
incompliant with "the letter and spirit of the law."

The best way to amend the sphere is to control the authorities,
the RA Ombudsman says.

People shouldn’t sit with crossed hands and wait for the authorities
to protect their rights. Hardly any Armenian feels safe in the country
nowadays. People should safeguard their rights themselves.

In general the Armenian Ombudsman is discontent with the freedom of
expression in Armenia.

Freedom of expression is far from being on the highest level. Surely,
there is pluralism, I do not deny it, but it is not on a sufficient
level.