EDUCATION IS THE MAIN PROBLEM OF JUVENILE DELINQUENTS

Lragir
Dec 11 2007
Armenia

The chair of the Helsinki Committee Avetik Ishkhanyan told News Armenia
the problem of juvenile delinquents in Armenia is education at the
penitentiaries. "The right of juvenile delinquents for education is
violated, although there must be a school with a specially trained
staff," Ishkhanyan said.

According to the human rights activist, in Armenian correctional
institutions inmates face a number of major problems, namely the
quality of food and medical services. "However, thanks to reforms
the cells are being repaired, the toilets are separated," the human
rights activist says.

According to him, the most important achievement of reforms in this
sphere is transparency, as a result of which the representatives of
NGOs can monitor penitentiaries.

Ishkhanyan added that the correctional institutions are sustained
by the government but often different programs are implemented by
international organizations and charities, namely the International
Committee of the Red Cross.

There are eleven penitentiaries in Armenia where about 3000 people
are serving sentence, including 30 adolescents and 60 women.