ArmInfo.During his working visit to Strasbourg, the Acting Armenian Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan held talks with Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Dunja Mijatovic .
The press service of the Armenian Foreign Ministry told ArmInfo that at the meeting the sides touched upon the agreements reached during the visit of the Commissioner in September to Yerevan and the results, noting the importance of regular meetings that allow discussing issues related to the state of human rights in Armenia, and prospects for collaboration and implementation of joint projects within the mandate of the office of the Commissioner for Human Rights. The agenda of the meeting also included reforms in Armenia, legislative changes and monitoring of the observance of human rights.
Speaking about the upcoming snap parliamentary elections in Armenia, Mnatsakanyan said that an important priority of the Armenian authorities is to hold fair and free elections that meet international criteria.
The interlocutors also touched upon the efforts of the international community to prevent genocides and crimes against humanity. In this context, Mnatsakanyan noted the importance of introducing mechanisms for the early prevention of genocides. The parties also focused on the consolidated opposition to the challenges of strengthening democracy in Europe, as well as on the efforts being made to increase the effectiveness of the CoE activities.
Mnatsakanyan spoke about the approaches of Armenia to an exclusively peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, stressing that the conflict primarily concerns people whose rights and security are a priority.