Yerevan, 03 February 2023
In a few days, the RA National Assembly will elect a new Human Rights Defender.
Emphasizing the important role of the RA HRD in the protection of people’s rights in Armenia, including from state bodies, and based on the imperative that the Human rights defender should not be constrained by his/her party affiliation immediately before being elected, I urge the authorities not to go along the path of partisanship of this institution as well, as was done in 2021 with the Central Election Commission and the Supreme Judicial Council when members of the Civil Contract Party were appointed as their heads, rather choose the RA Human Rights Defender from the number of reputable human rights defenders who are not members of any party.
Hovsep Khurshudyan, Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum’s Armenian National Platfrom Coordinator