HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATED BY THOSE WHO ARE TO PROTECT
Lragir.am
14 April 06
On April 13 the National Assembly heard the report on the activity of
the ombudsman of Armenia in 2005. The report was presented by Armen
Harutiunyan, who became ombudsman in March 2006. According to the
members of parliament, Armen Harutiunyan observed all the rules of
decency and deserves praise. In his report he had included mostly
statistical facts, without dwelling on assessments, and noticed in
the beginning that “the first ombudsman could have been given the
opportunity to present the report on the activity in 2005.” The picture
of 2005 is the following: the ombudsman received 1551 complaints from
1824 citizens, some are signed by groups of people, 533 complaints ,
i.e. 34 per cent were discussed.
In European countries they attend to 20-25 per cent of complaints. The
majority of complaints are about strange methods of investigation
used by the police, the social security agencies for problems with
benefits, courts, the Ministry of Justice, the Office of Public
Prosecutor, the City Hall of Yerevan, regional administrations,
other agencies. The police is in the first place – 191 complaints,
social security agencies are the second – 179, then come courts –
166. The lowest number of complaints are about the Ministry of Finance
and Economy and the Ministry of Energy – three complaints each. This
statistics allowed MP Victor Dallakyan to conclude that human rights
are often violated by those who are called to protect them, i.e. the
police, courts of law, the Office of Public Prosecutor.