In 2024, journalists at times were subjected to violence, harassment,  or intimidation by authorities - U.S. Department of State 

ArmInfo. There were some significant positive changes regarding the government's commitment to human rights in Armenia.  The government increased the legal age for  marriage to 18, eliminating exceptions for certain instances of child  marriage. The government and the ombudsperson promptly responded to  the single antisemitic incident in the country, providing sharp and  public condemnation of antisemitism in any form, reads the 2024  Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Armenia by the U.S.  Department of State. 

Significant human rights issues included credible reports of: torture  or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment; arbitrary  arrest and detention; and significant presence of any of the worst  forms of child labor.

The government took limited credible steps to identify and punish  former and sitting government officials who committed human rights  abuses. There was no reported progress on government investigations  of alleged abuses committed by armed forces or individuals during  hostilities in 2020.

The legal minimum age for marriage was 18, and the government  generally enforced the law. Legal amendments adopted on September 11  removed the exceptions allowing for marriage at an earlier age. While  early marriage of girls was reportedly widespread within Yezidi  communities, there were anecdotal reports that the problem existed in  ethnic Armenian families as well. Reports indicated that within the  Yezidi community some girls left school either as a consequence of  early marriage or to avoid abduction and forced marriage. The  government did not record the number of unregistered early marriages.   According to a February 2023 opinion by the Advisory Committee on the  Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, civil  society organizations and Yezidi organizations asserted that while  early marriage had little basis in Yezidi tradition, authorities  rarely acted to prevent it due to fear of unduly restricting what  they perceived to be a Yezidi tradition, leading to underreporting to  police. Representatives of the Yezidi community, however, reported an  incremental increase in local government officials' disapproval of  the practice.

The constitution and law prohibited such practices, but there were  credible reports government officials employed them. The local NGO  community expressed concern regarding allegations that members of the  security forces tortured or otherwise abused individuals in their  custody with impunity. According to human rights lawyers, while the  criminal code defined and criminalized torture, it did not  criminalize other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment. Officials  often investigated allegations of torture under charges of abuse of  power, leading to lighter punishments. On July 25, the Court of  Cassation ruled investigative bodies had not effectively investigated  allegations of torture and noted lower courts had failed to properly  take into consideration the lack of investigation when deciding  judicial cases.

Human rights organizations and activists asserted military police  subjected military personnel to mistreatment, abuse, and possibly  torture. They noted when the army investigated allegations of torture  and abuse, officials used articles of the criminal code specific to  regulating military service rather than articles specific to torture.  According to human rights activists, by using this special section of  the criminal code, military officials reduced legal safeguards and  allowed for dismissal of cases based on the expiration of the statute  of limitations.

There were no reports the government or its agents committed  arbitrary or unlawful killings during the year.

Human rights nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) expressed concerns  regarding multiple reports of noncombat deaths in the army and  allegations law enforcement bodies failed to conduct credible  investigations into those deaths. According to civil society  organizations and victims' families, the practice of qualifying many  noncombat deaths as suicides at the onset of investigations made it  less likely abuses would be uncovered and investigated. According to  human rights lawyers, the biggest obstacle to the investigation of  military deaths was the destruction or nonpreservation of key  evidence, both by the military command (in cases of internal  investigations) and by the specific investigation body working on a  case. According to human rights NGOs, the government's lack of  transparency in reporting on military deaths, whether classified as  combat or noncombat, led to public distrust of official information  in this sphere.

Human rights lawyers asserted there was no progress on investigations  into noncombat deaths in the military despite multiple rulings by the  European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ordering the government to  investigate.

The government reported the investigations into the deaths of two  persons who allegedly jumped to their deaths from windows while in  police custody in April and July 2023 continued during the year. No  officers were charged at year's end.

Sporadic allegations of incidents of limited cross-border firing in  the decades-long conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan impacted  civilians during the year. The Armenian government accused  Azerbaijani Armed Forces of repeated attacks on civilian  infrastructure. On November 11, Freedom House published a report  alleging the Azerbaijani government acted upon a comprehensive,  methodically implemented strategy to empty Nagorno-Karabakh of its  ethnic Armenian population between 2020 and 2023, subjecting the  population in Nagorno-Karabakh to attacks, intimidation, deprivation  of basic rights and adequate living conditions, and forced  displacement. The report recommended parties "continue pursuing  international legal avenues to seek accountability measures and  remedies:includ[ing] ongoing efforts at the International Court of  Justice (ICJ) and the European Court of Human Rights."

Complaints submitted by the governments of Armenia and Azerbaijan to  the ECHR alleging the other side committed atrocities during 2016-20  fighting awaited the court's ruling, as did the Armenian government's  claims regarding September 2022 fighting.

Following the mass exodus from Nagorno-Karabakh of virtually all of  the region's ethnic Armenians in late September 2023, the ICJ  instructed Azerbaijan to ensure the safe, unimpeded, and expeditious  return of those who wished to return to Nagorno-Karabakh and the  protection of persons in Nagorno-Karabakh. The Armenian government's  investigation into crimes, including killings allegedly committed by  Azerbaijan against Nagorno- Karabakh residents, originally announced  following the flight of more than 100,000 ethnic Armenian  Nagorno-Karabakh residents into Armenia in 2023, continued at year's  end.  There were no updates on the six criminal cases launched by  Armenian authorities in 2020 to investigate actions of perpetrators  speaking Armenian during the fall 2020 intensive fighting on charges  of "serious violations of international humanitarian law during armed  conflicts." Of the six cases, four involved alleged murder, torture,  and inhuman treatment; one involved alleged murder and torture; and  one involved alleged murder. The government combined all six cases  into one criminal proceeding in 2021. The investigation remained  underway at year's end.

Journalists at times were subjected to violence, harassment, or  intimidation by authorities or those acting on behalf of authorities.  The NGO Committee to Protect Freedom of Expression reported an  increase in the number of cases of physical violence against  journalists during the second quarter of the year against a backdrop  of political protests in the country.

Journalists, particularly those from independent media outlets,  reported facing significant pressure and threats both online and in  person for their coverage of high-level government corruption and for  posing questions aimed at holding government officials accountable.  In its May 3 World Press Freedom Index, Reporters Without Borders  noted antimedia rhetoric from political elites, who accused  journalists of "corruption" and of serving their adversaries,  fostered a climate of intolerance that impeded the work of reporters  in the country.

On June 12, during protests calling for the prime minister's  resignation, members of the press corps alleged police directed stun  grenades in their direction and broke their equipment, and that some  sustained physical injuries after being pushed during police clashes  with protesters. Multiple media associations condemned the actions of  police, citing videos and photographs they claimed showed officers  targeting reporters and camera operators covering the protest.