ECRI records progress in fight against racism in Armenia in recent  years. However, some issues still cause concern 

ArmInfo. Over the past seven years, progress has been made and good practices developed in the  field of inclusive education, migrant integration, and anti-discrimination legislation in Armenia.

However, some issues still cause concern, such as the absence of a full equality mandate  given to the Human Rights Defender institution, insufficient action  against hate speech and discrimination and bullying at schools, as  well as delays with the adoption of the Equality Law and the fact  that it does not cover all discrimination grounds. This is stated in  ECRI report published on the CoE website.

As the report notes: "On the positive side, ECRI notes emergency  measures in the field of inclusive education to ensure the  continuation of education for 80% of schoolchildren from low-income  families in rural areas affected by school closures in primary and  upper- secondary education due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Reforms in  the field of education, including the refurbishing of schools and the  strengthening of teacher training, are under way. Training on  addressing hate speech/hate crime or discrimination were organised  for various professionals, including for police officers,  investigators, prosecutors, and judges. 

The new criminal legislation contains anti-discrimination and  anti-hate crime provisions with an open list of protected grounds,  including "race", skin colour, belonging to an ethnic minority,  religion and "other circumstances of a personal and social nature". 

A free-of-charge mobile application (MigApp) was developed for  migrants, special measures were taken to ensure the integration of  migrant children into the school system, and the launch of a new  electronic platform in January 2022 to register work permit  applications considerably simplified the access of migrants to work.   However, ECRI says, the Human Rights Defender institution has hardly  received any discrimination complaints, mainly due to the absence of  comprehensive anti-discrimination legal provisions. In its report,  ECRI recommends that a full equality mandate be given by law to the  Human Rights Defender.

There is no specific system to tackle discrimination and bullying in  education, particularly vis-a-vis LGBTI students. A lack of awareness  of equality issues among students and school staff is observed. The  authorities have not taken any initiative or provided support to  discourage hate speech through counter-speech and alternative speech,  ECRI says. ECRI recommends establishing effective school policies and  mechanisms to prevent, monitor and respond to bullying, in particular  LGBTI-phobic attacks. Authorities should also take action to prevent  and combat online hate speech, including by ensuring that removal  procedures and conditions as well as liability rules imposed on  internet intermediaries are transparent, clear and predictable.

Authorities should ensure that the draft Equality Law is adopted  within a reasonable time, and provides for effective, proportionate  and dissuasive sanctions for discrimination cases.  The law should  also explicitly cover all grounds of discrimination relevant to ECRI,  including sexual orientation, gender identity and sex  characteristics, which is ® absolutely necessary to ensure a more  effective protection of LGBTI people from discrimination ¯.  ECRI  also recommends that the authorities prioritise LGBTI equality.  Homosexuality should not be considered and recorded as a mental  health disorder, and LGBTI-phobic discourse in the political sphere  should not remain unchallenged.  In its report, ECRI further  recommends that the authorities adopt, as a matter of priority, an  Integration Strategy accompanied by suitable financial resources and  capacity-building activities that will ensure the effective  implementation of concrete support actions for refugees, asylum  seekers and migrants, as well as any other persons or groups of  persons in similar situations, including, among others, language and  civic orientation courses," they concluded.