2024-08-19 12:25:02
The HRD office issued a message.
“Armenian human rights defender Anahit Manasyan participated in the 13th session of the Republic of Armenia – European Union dialogue on human rights on January 18.
The RA delegation was headed by the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia, Paruyr Hovhannisyan, and the EU delegation was headed by Mrs. Dorota Dluchi-Suliga, the head of the European Service of the EU External Actions.
Gender equality, non-discrimination, freedom of assembly, freedom of speech and information, rights of national minorities, refugees, as well as strengthening labor rights and a number of other issues were discussed.
Within the framework of the session, the importance of adopting the 2023-2025 action plan arising from the National Strategy for the Protection of Human Rights was specially emphasized.
Cooperation on issues related to human rights and fundamental freedoms on multilateral platforms, particularly within the UN, OSCE and Council of Europe, was discussed, affirming the commitment to strengthen cooperation.
The RA delegation presented to the EU partners the steps taken by Armenia and the current works in relation to the above-mentioned issues. In this context, Anahit Manasyan presented the steps taken in the direction of improving the spheres, emphasizing also the actions that need to be taken in order to develop and strengthen the rights protection system in specific spheres.
A special reference was made to the large-scale military attack by Azerbaijan in Nagorno-Karabakh in September 2023, the humanitarian consequences of the subsequent forced displacement, and the problems arising from the perspective of human rights. Efforts to address the urgent needs of more than 100,000 refugees and facilitate their socio-economic inclusion were discussed, for which significant support is required in the medium term.