A total of 146 medical staff of the penitentiary system in Armenia completed the programme on prevention of ill-treatment in prisons. The training programme was tailored to professional needs of penitentiary medical staff in line with legal amendments recently introduced by the Ministry of Justice on reporting of allegations of ill-treatment cases in prison facilities.

As a result of the programme, participants strengthened their skills on recognition of signs, reporting on ill–treatment cases, recording of injuries, intervewing of alleged vicitms in order to ensure proper handling of the cases of ill-treatment in line with the Council of Europe and other international standards.

The programme was rolled out from 16 March to 26 September 2021 with ten two-day cascade sessions completed online and two sessions that were held in-person on 18-19 September in Tsaghkadzor and on 25-26 September 2021 in Aghveran.

Last two offline sessions were attended by the head and deputy head of the Prison Medicine Center, heads of the Prison Medicine Center subunits, as well as the representative of the Ministry of Justice and served as a forum for open discussion proving unified approach in documentation and reporting of ill-treatment case in penitentiary institutions. These sessions covered, inter alia, the development of skills on interviewing, psychological examination, and work with vulnerable groups.

The programme was organised under the framework of the project “Enhancing health care and human rights protection in prisons in Armenia” implemented by the Council of Europe and funded through the Action Plan for Armenia 2019 -2022.