Richard Mills: Armenians can be proud of the active civil society,  especially in the area of protection of human rights

ArmInfo.US Ambassador to Armenia Richard Mills has published a statement on the occasion of International Human Rights Da.

"Armenians can be proud of the active civil society, especially in  the area of protection of human rights, that exists in Armenia and  that is sadly absent from many of Armenia's neighbors. I particularly  welcome the increasing collaboration we have seen between the  Armenian government and civil society", the Ambassador mentioned. 

For instance, the Ministry of Defense's newly-established Center for  Human Rights and Building Integrity has engaged with civil society as  it pursues its mandate to promote human rights, ethics, integrity,  and anti-corruption within the military. The Investigative Committee  is collaborating with NGOs on how best to address domestic violence  issues and has completed a serious internal study that provides  much-needed data about domestic violence cases and how they are  handled by law enforcement.  A third example is the sterling work of  the Intra-Agency Trafficking in Persons Working Group, which has  successfully joined elements of civil society, government, and law  enforcement to reduce trafficking.  These efforts have directly led  to Armenia's Tier 1 ranking on the Department of State's Trafficking  in Persons assessment for four years in a row, which is a remarkable  achievement. 

At the same time the Ambassador urged the Government to redouble its  efforts in the areas of human rights that remain of deep concern to  the Armenians, to human rights organizations, and to the U.S.  Government, and which are covered in detail in US annual Human Rights  Report for Armenia.  Of these, he specifically mentioned the concerns  over the use of pretrial detention in the Armenian legal system and  the continuing fight against domestic violence.  "Pretrial detention  should not be used as a punitive tool to keep citizens from  exercising their rights of free speech and assembly.  Each pretrial  detention decision needs to be fully transparent and all decisions  based on a strong legal rationale, in line with international  standards, and this is particularly important in sensitive political  cases or when a detention decision will keep political opponents of  the government and citizen activists in prison for lengthy periods.   In all cases of detention, the government is responsible for  protecting the human rights of those individuals remanded to their  care''. 

The Ambassador also noted that spousal abuse and violence against  women continues to be underreported, due to fear of further harm,  social stigma, "victim blaming," and at times, lack of training or  reluctance to act within the police.  "Government agencies, law  enforcement, and civil society should collaborate to combat  stereotypes and continue to make progress towards legislation that  fully protects all Armenian men, women, and children", the Ambassador  summarized.