Human rights activist: Revolutionary people’s expectations poorly expressed in government program

Panorama, Armenia
Feb 15 2019

The expectations of the revolutionary people are poorly expressed in the new Armenian government’s action plan, including in the sectors on judiciary and human rights, President of the Protection of Rights without Borders NGO Haykuhi Harutyunyan said at a discussion on Friday.

“The state of affairs that emerged after April 2018 didn’t find a proper place in the government program. Instead of being a forward-looking program of democratic development, it seems to be a program confirming and fixing the previous state of affairs,” he said.

A civil society representative, Haykuhi Harutyunyan was surprized by the fact that the action plan has not been discussed and lacks inclusiveness. Meantime, she expressed hope all the gaps will be bridged while drawing up a list of measures for the program implementation.

“The program has disparity. On the one hand, it stresses the need to exclude political instructions on courts, on the other hand it lacks institutional solutions for the issue. Recording that judges acted upon the orders of the executive branch, the government program fails to propose ways to deal with those judges who have made decisions in that way,” she said.