PRESS RELEASE
United Nations Development Programme / Armenia
14 Petros Adamyan St., Yerevan 0010
Contact: Mr. Hovhannes Sarajyan, Communications Associate
Tel: +37410 566 073
E-mail: hovhannes.sarajyan@undp.org<mailto:hovhannes.sa rajyan@undp.org>

One More Step Towards Promotion of Human Rights Awareness in Armenia

Yerevan, 17 March 2009 – Today, the Human Rights Defender’s Office
(HRDO), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Armenia and
Raoul Wallenberg Institute on Human Rights and Humanitarian Law
officially opened the Human Rights library at the HRDO premises and
presented an Armenian translation of the Textbook on Economic, Social
and Cultural Rights. These initiatives were implemented within the
framework of UNDP project "Strengthening the Human Rights Capacity of
the Human Rights Defender’s Office in Armenia," with financial support
of the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA).

Representatives from the Armenian judiciary system, national
libraries, academia and universities, as well as representatives of
international organizations, local NGOs and mass media attended the
event.

Opening the event, Mr. Armen Harutyunyan, Human Rights Defender of
Armenia said, "Human rights is first of all culture, education, way of
living and thinking and then the rest. Similar initiatives promote the
formation of human being’s internal value system."

Ms. Consuelo Vidal, UN Resident Coordinator/UNDP Resident
Representative said, "The promotion and protection of human rights is
a basis of the UN value system and the Organization’s efforts in
Armenia are aimed at strengthening the capacity of human rights
institutions, in particular, the Human Rights Defender’s Office. We
are very happy to have been able to partner in this project with the
Raoul Wallenberg Institute with financial support from SIDA. She also
expressed strong conviction that the Human Rights library and the
Textbook on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights will be efficient and
useful tools for all human rights practitioners, such as the staff of
HRDO, students of law departments, academic institutions and NGOs to
better understand human rights fundamentals and carry out
knowledge-based professional activity.

The UNDP project "Strengthening the Human Rights Capacity of the Human
Rights Defender’s Office in Armenia," among other activities, assists
the HRDO to raise awareness on human rights in Armenia through
development and publication of a quarterly newsletter, publication of
reports, and organization of workshops and seminars.

###
UNDP is the UN’s global development network, advocating for change and
connecting countries to knowledge, experience and resources to help
people build a better life. We are on the ground in 166 countries,
working with them on their own solutions to global and national
development challenges. As they develop local capacity, they draw on
the people of UNDP and our wide range of partners. UNDP in Armenia was
established in 1993 and supports the Government of Armenia to reach
its own development priorities and the Millennium Development Goals by
2015.