The U.S. Department of State has released its annual report on human rights practices in Armenia in 2019, Voice of America’s Armenian service reports.
There are political prisoners or detainees in Armenia, according to the report. Significant human rights issues in the country included: torture; arbitrary detention, although with fewer reports; harsh and life-threatening prison conditions; arbitrary interference with privacy; significant problems with the independence of the judiciary; crimes involving violence or threats of violence targeting LGBTI persons; and use of forced or compulsory child labor.
The government took steps to investigate and punish alleged abuses by former and current government officials and law enforcement authorities, the report says.
Armenia has a “legacy” of systemic corruption in many areas, the Department of State says. “In 2018 the government made combatting corruption one of its top priorities and continued to take measures to eliminate it during the year. Although top officials announced the “eradication of corruption” in the country, local observers noted that anticorruption measures needed further institutionalization,” the report reads.
The State Department expresses concerns over the issues concerning an independent judiciary and corruption practices in the field. The judicial system lacks independence and impartiality and does not enjoy public trust. The report refers to the concerns of local NGOs over the lack of objective criteria for the control of judges, especially regarding the Supreme Judicial Council and the Constitutional Court.
According to the report, authorities generally complied with court orders, however Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's May 19 call to his supporters to block access to courts throughout the country was deemed by some circles as pressuring the judiciary.
Law enforcement bodies failed to effectively investigate or prosecute most allegations of domestic violence, the report says. Domestic violence against women was widespread, and women rights activists become targets of hate speech. The latter are criticized for undermining the foundations of the "traditional Armenian family" and spreading "Western values."
The report also touches upon the ongoing criminal case into the March 1-2, 2008 events in Yerevan, involving Armenia’s second President Robert Kocharyan. The State Department cites the 2018 report of the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Dunja Mijatović, which stresses the importance of "strictly observing of the rule of law, judicial independence, transparency and fair trial” in the process.
Reflecting on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the report says: “Separatists, with Armenia’s support, continued to control most of Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding Azerbaijani territories. The final status of Nagorno-Karabakh remained the subject of international mediation by the OSCE Minsk Group, co-chaired by France, Russia, and the United States.”
According to the Department of State, violence along the contact line continued at lower levels compared with previous years. “Recurrent shooting caused deaths, primarily to military members. Following the outbreak of violence in 2016, the sides to the conflict submitted complaints to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) accusing each other of committing atrocities during that time. The cases remained pending with the ECHR,” the report reads.