From left to right: Lilit Muradyan, resident of the Notarial Chamber of the Republic of Armenia; Dr Lovro Tomasic representative of the Federal Chamber of Notaries for International Affairs; Tatiana Bovkun, IRZ-Head of Section Armenia
We would like to thank Dr Lovro Tomasic, representative of the Federal Chamber of Notaries for International Affairs and member of the Executive Board and the working group ‘International Organisations’ of the International Union of Notaries (UINL), as well as member of the Board of Trustees of IRZ, for a highly successful event on 25/26 October 2025 in Artavaz.
The seminar on the application of conflict-of-law rules in notarial practice and the role of notaries in real estate transactions, with special consideration given to anti-money laundering obligations, took place in the remote region of Kotayk so that as many participants as possible from the regions of Armenia could attend. This enabled the IRZ to facilitate the participation of 60 notaries from nine of Armenia's ten regions and Yerevan, as well as three employees of the Armenian Ministry of Justice.
IRZ has been working with the Armenian Chamber of Notaries since 2011, with the support of the Federal Chamber of Notaries. The President of the Notarial Chamber of the Republic of Armenia, Lilit Muradyan, therefore reported on the latest developments and reforms in the notarial system in Armenia. As Armenian inheritance law is to be reformed and German law is to serve as a model, the discussion was particularly stimulating.
From left to right: Yeghiazar Avagyan, Deputy Prosecutor General of the Republic of Armenia, Grigor Elizbaryan, Stellv. Deputy Prosecutor General of the Republic of Armenia, Mane Markosyan, Advisor to the Prosecutor General of the Republic of Armenia (Copyright: Prosecutor General of the Republic of Armenia) Armenia
Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) states that no one shall be subjected to torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
Prosecutors in the Armenian military who are responsible for ensuring the legality of investigations into violence against military personnel must also receive comprehensive training on the interpretation of this prohibition. The Republic of Armenia is also pursuing this goal in point 2.6 of the action plan of its National Strategy for the Protection of Human Rights.
On 27 September 2025, the Deputy Prosecutor General of the Republic of Armenia, Mr Yeghiazar Avagyan, the Military Prosecutor of the Republic of Armenia and the Deputy Prosecutor General of the Republic of Armenia, Mr Grigor Elizbaryan, discussed with German expert Mr Kristijan Vlasic, Public Prosecutor at the Düsseldorf Public Prosecutor's Office and Captain of the Reserve (Bundeswehr), and Dr Janna Liedtke, Judge at the Duisburg Labour Court, ways of promoting modern and international standards in the application of criminal law in Armenia.
Subsequently, and on the following day, training sessions and lectures were held at the request of the Armenian Attorney General's Office for military prosecutors, students of the military academy and other members of the public prosecutor's office. They received information on how to recognise different forms of torture and ill-treatment and how to investigate them effectively, taking into account legal, ethical and practical considerations. We would like to express our sincere thanks to the two speakers, Mr Grigor Elizbaryan and Mr Kristijan Vlasic and Dr. Liedtke, for their interesting presentations.
Participants of the seminar on domestic violence against children and young people. Armenia
Although Armenia signed the Istanbul Convention (Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence) in 2018, it has not yet ratified it and is therefore not bound by the obligations set out in the Convention.
Ratification has been delayed due to vehement opposition from the opposition and, in particular, the Armenian Apostolic Church, which criticises the convention for endangering national values and traditions and for promoting an inappropriate distribution of gender roles. Nevertheless, in April 2024, parliament modernised the law on the prevention of domestic violence and the protection of its victims, introduced criminal prosecution for domestic violence and broadened the definition of ‘partner’ to protect LGBT+ persons.
The Office of the Human Rights Defender of the Republic of Armenia, established in 2004, monitors the implementation of the provisions of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child of 20 November 1989 and the prevention of and protection against violations of children's rights under the current Human Rights Defender, Ms Anahit Manasyan. In order to strengthen the capacity of the office's own staff to identify, prevent and respond to violence against children, IRZ and its partner organisation held a seminar on domestic violence against children and young people in Yerevan on 11 and 12 June 2025.
The discussions focused primarily on a conviction by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg in 2024 concerning the rape of a vulnerable minor in Armenia. The two German speakers discussed with the participants the violations of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) by Armenia identified by the ECtHR, but also the ECtHR's judgments relating to German court practice, in particular how the shortcomings identified by the ECtHR are dealt with in practice in Germany.
Further measures to promote compliance with, implementation and strengthening of human rights and the rule of law will follow. The current event is therefore only the beginning of comprehensive consultations on domestic violence with a view to increasing acceptance for the ratification of the Istanbul Convention.
