Autumn course on human rights for law students

From 9 to 13 November 2020, the first of four one-week autumn courses took place as part of the “Supporting young legal talent in Armenia 2020” project, which is being financed by the German Foreign Office.

32 students from four Armenian partner universities in the project took part in the event on human rights. These universities are:

• the Faculty of Law at the Yerevan State University,
• the French University in Armenia,
• the Armenian-Russian University and
• the American University.

The event took place in a hybrid format, with participants in Armenia attending in person in a conference room and German experts and IRZ representatives joining them online.

The Permanent Representative of the Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany in Armenia, Klaus Wendelberger, opened the series of events. Other welcome speeches were given by Frank Hupfeld, IRZ Head of Section, and professor Gagik Ghazinyan, Dean of the law faculty at Yerevan State University. Sose Barseghyan, a lecturer from the department of constitutional law for the protection of human rights in Armenia at the Yerevan State University, went on to present the current situation in Armenia.

The first three days of the one-week event were taken up with lectures and discussions, while the students worked on cases in groups for the last two days.

The following speakers from Germany took part in the event:

• Prof. Dr. Carmen Thiele, European University Viadrina
• Prof. Michaela Wittinger, Federal University of Applied Administrative Sciences
• Stefan von Raumer, a lawyer specialising in constitutional law and the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR)

The themes for the first autumn course were:

• an introduction to protecting human rights
• the right to respect for private and family life
• freedom of thought, belief and religion
• freedom of expression
• the ECHR: Origins, content, significance for international and national laws
• the assessment of violations of the convention by the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR): Scope of protection, intervention, limiting provisions
• the prohibition of discrimination (article 14 ECHR) and the general principle of the 12th additional protocol
• complaints submitted to the ECtHR
• human rights - the practical aspect from a lawyer's point of view
• how to draw up a complaint to submit to the ECtHR

The students were very active and committed to the discussions and group work during the autumn course. The event was so successful that some interested parties signed up to subsequent courses even before the first instalment was over. This is particularly remarkable in view of the current political developments and recent events in Armenia. The project will continue with three more autumn courses:

• European law: 16 to 20 November 2020
• constitutional law: 23 to 27 November 2020
• media law: 25 to 29 January 2021

About the project

The “Supporting young legal talent in Armenia 2020” project is being financed by the German Foreign Office to support the “Development of the partnership with civil society in Eastern Partnership countries and Russia” and is aimed at law students from the above-mentioned partner universities in the project. After all, law students will play a key role as disseminators in shaping the future justice system in Armenia. The four one-week autumn courses will teach young people about four key areas of the law: human rights, constitutional law, European law and media law. Discussions and workshops will focus on the basics of these areas of the law and their application within the Armenian legal context.

Gefördert durch:

Conclusion of the Pilot Project for Penal Institutions in Armenia

On 5 March 2020, a closing conference was held in Yerevan to mark the end of the pilot project for penal institutions, which began in 2016. The IRZ was commissioned to lead the project by the Penitentiary Service at the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Armenia. Under the title “Practical issues in prisons: the development of customised concepts to deal with the most urgent issues at four prisons in Armenia”, the project included workshops, expert talks and advice on the introduction of modern sentence planning and treatment methods at prisons in Armavir, Abovyan, Artik and Sevan. Around forty employees from the four prisons took part in the conference, as well as:

• Artak Haratyunyan, First Deputy Director of the Penitentiary Service at the Ministry of Justice,
• Gohar Simonyan, Head of the Department for the Prevention of Mistreatment and Torture at the Ombudsman’s office, and
• Gayane Hovakimyan, Deputy Director of the Centre for the Implementation of Legal Education and Rehabilitation Programmes (SNCO).

The conference was opened by the Head of Department for Prison Policy at the Armenian Ministry of Justice, Arpine Sarsgyan, and Amalia Wuckert from the IRZ. Afterwards, Ruben Darbinyan, Chief of Staff at the Penitentiary Service of the Ministry of Justice, outlined the current situation in Armenian prisons.

The IRZ experts Thomas Müller, a senior government official and Director of the Karlsruhe prison, and Heinz Brüche, Head of Training for law enforcement services in Baden-Württemberg, presented the overall project and reported on the work carried out within the project. Afterwards, the representatives of the various working groups presented the work carried out during the workshops and the results for the relevant prisons.

The following issues were discussed:

• How has the prison actually benefited from the project?
• Which measures have been introduced in the prison as a result of the project?
• Which measures are planned for further impementation?
• Which other measures would be important for achieving the objectives set by European targets?
• What are the requirements in terms of personnel and resources for implementing these measures in the prison?
• What other requirements need to be considered, with a view to future cooperation with European partners?

During their speeches and contributions to discussions, all the participants stressed the considerable importance of the project for Armenia. The Armenians expressed the wish for more in-depth training for psychologists and social workers at the prisons on the implementation and application of standardised diagnosis procedures and treatment methods. It was also suggested that the same project be carried out as basic training at four other prisons.

Background of the pilot project

During expert discussions held in Yerevan in July 2016 to establish the cooperation between the German and Armenian prison authorities, plans were drawn up for a major project to cover four selected prisons. These discussions were attended by the IRZ Head of Section and a German expert, as well as the Head of the Penitentiary Service at the Armenian Ministry of Justice, the Head of the Ombudsman’s office and the Directors of the two prisons in Armavir and Abovyan.

Within the framework of this project, several workshops took place at the four selected prisons – Armavir, Abovyan, Artik and Sevan. Those involved in the project at these prisons also held expert talks, took advice on weak areas and developed joint strategies.

The main topics addressed during the workshops were:

• rehabilitation and reintegration of prisoners
• risk management and evaluation methods
• support and therapy options available in penal institutions.
• reorganisation of quarantine stations in intake divisions to include diagnosis of criminogenic factors and establish sentence planning
• introduction of treatment measures to improve criminal prognosis
• management structures in prisons and delegation of responsibility
• creation of work and leisure opportunities for prisoners