NKR HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDER GIVES COUNTRY "PASSING" GRADE
Anahit Danielyan

avunq/
2009/04/02|13:59

The NKR Human Rights Defender has presented his yearly report for 2008
and gives an overall passing grade to the country. The report states
that from May 20 to December 30, the Human Rights Office received a
total of 196 petitions from 267 individuals.

A majority of the petitions, 60%, were from Stepanakert, 15% from
Martuni, 7% from Martakert and 6% from Hadrut. There were practically
no petitions received from Shushi residents or from Kashatagh and
Shahoumyan. The Human Rights Defender (HDR) argues that such drastic
differences can be accounted for by distances needed to be traveled
from such regions to get to the HDR office and the low level of legal
awareness among many.

Fifty of the petitions received deal with the police authorities,
37 with regional administrations, 25 with the Stepanakert mayor’s
office and 22 with the courts. The remaining petitions refer to
various government ministries and departments and different businesses.

As a result of the activities of the HDR, seventeen cases of human
rights violations were reported.

In the general assessment of the HDR, there were no reported cases
of violations within the NKR of a systematic or societal nature.