Armenia’s Human Rights Defender (Ombudsman) Arman Tatoyan has shared a statement of the European Ombudsman Institute (EOI) on the Public TV Company’s policy regarding the ombudsman’s activities.
The full text of the statement released on 28 January is provided below.
“It is a matter of serious concern for us that the Public TV Company of Armenia being established by the Government is implementing a policy of blocking broadcasting activities of the Human Rights Defender as already a long-standing policy.
The Human Rights Defender of Armenia is independent and enjoys true respect, has international recognition of its authority.
The Armenian National Human Rights Institution plays an important role in protection of human rights and promotion of democracy. It develops awareness of citizens about their rights not only through statements, but also awareness raising public campaigns, as well as contributes to citizens' control over public authorities.
It is of outmost importance that the Human Rights Defender of Armenia is an irreplaceable source of information in a number of areas (e.g. torture prevention through NPM visits to prisons as an exclusive authority) and serves as a credible source of alternative views or information on the ground for the society.
National Human Rights Institutions are protected internationally (Council of Europe, OSCE, etc.); the policy of the Public TV Company of Armenia is an institutional harm to the public reputation of this constitutional institution and, thus, to its effectiveness through limitation of its human rights protection capacities.
We closely follow the difficulties that the Armenian National Human Rights Institution faces in relations with public authorities in a number of areas, but this should have no impact on broadcasting attitude of the Government founded Public TV Company.
Thus, we call on the Public TV Company and the Public Broadcaster of Armenia to put an immediate end to this unacceptable policy and to retrieve its normal broadcasting policy regarding the Armenian Human Rights Defender.
This is the way to promote the right public discourse in the country.”
The Statement can be read at:
https://www.panorama.am/en/news/2022/02/02/EOI-Armenian-ombudsman/2635228