OSCE/ODIHR TRAINS ARMENIAN HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS ON MONITORING FREEDOM OF ASSEMBLY

Noyan Tapan

Se p 17, 2008

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 17, NOYAN TAPAN. The OSCE Office for Democratic
Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) launched a four-day training
course on September 15-18 for Armenian human defenders on how to
monitor and report on the freedom of assembly.

"Freedom of peaceful assembly is a cornerstone of democratic society,"
said Lydia Grigoreva of the ODIHR’s Focal Point for Human Rights
Defenders and National Human Rights Institutions."By improving the
skills of human rights defenders to monitor public gatherings and
report on how the freedom of assembly is respected, we intend to
contribute to strengthening dialogue with national authorities on
how to better protect freedom of assembly at the national and local
level," she added.

According to a press release of the OSCE Office in Yerevan, the
training is designed to enable human rights defenders to monitor
how Armenia’s freedom of assembly legislation and international
standards in this field are being implemented in practice. Following
the training course, human rights defenders will monitor assemblies
throughout the country for six months.

Their observations will be compiled in a report that will be submitted
to the authorities.