YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 26, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan says he sees a number of challenges in Armenia in the area of human rights protection.

“The Republic of Armenia is an unequivocally democratic country, but this democracy exists as an emotional expression which was developed as a result of the 2018 velvet revolution,” PM Pashinyan said in a speech delivered at a two-day international conference dedicated to the 15th anniversary of the establishment of the Ombudsman’s institution. “Now we need to strengthen this democracy institutionally. We will move forward unequivocally in this matter. The next challenge is the establishment of an independent judiciary. We note that along with the legislative and executive, it is also the judiciary that had contributed to mass transgressions of human rights protection. Our primary challenge is to have an independent judicial system. We are principally against of having a controlled judicial system. The judicial system in Armenia should undergo substantial in-depth changes from top to bottom, the way that it becomes truly independent,” Pashinyan said.

The PM mentioned that there is also a problem related to the quality of the legal system’s work.

“They are objective because these systems had worked in conditions which were contrary to human rights protection in their depth, and in the context of these entire reforms the Human Rights Defender’s institution is a priority for us,” he said.

Pashinyan added that the solution to these problems must be the result of joint work between the government and the Ombudsman.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan