The Judicial System Must Undergo Changes from Top to Bottom: Pashinyan

An international conference dedicated to the 15th anniversary of the Ombudsman’s office has begun in the Armenian Parliament. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan is present at the event, which is chaired by Human Rights Defender Arman Tatoyan.

In his opening speech, Prime Minister Pashinyan congratulated the attendees on the 15th anniversary of the Ombudsman's institution, stating that the protection of human rights is one of the key priorities that a democratic government, society, and country can have in the modern world.

Pashinyan noted that 15 years ago, when the Ombudsman’s institution was established, there were some pessimistic evaluations regarding its impact on human rights protection in Armenia. However, the Prime Minister acknowledged that this institution has matured in Armenia and has made an undeniable contribution to human rights protection in the country: “In general, new conditions and an environment have been created for human rights protection because the revolution was made by the citizens of Armenia, and therefore the revolution must create and has necessarily created an environment where a person is not only a declarative but also a factual highest value, and the protection of their rights is a primary issue set before the government and authorities.”

This, of course, as the Prime Minister stated in his speech, does not mean that the protection of human rights in Armenia is in an ideal state, but it signifies that human rights protection is a priority for the Armenian government just as it is for the Ombudsman: “In this regard, we personally, the government, and the National Assembly greatly value the Ombudsman's activities in Armenia because we consider the Ombudsman’s institution as one of our important allies in this entire process. Moreover, our activities after the revolution have been primarily directed at human rights protection because it is based on the simple understanding that all people in Armenia are equal before the law, and inequality before the law is primarily what creates corruption. Therefore, when the Armenian government fights against corruption, the result should first and foremost be a higher level of human rights protection. When the Armenian government fights against monopolies, it primarily affects the level of human rights protection, particularly the right of every citizen to build their own welfare.”

The Prime Minister stated that Armenia has a significant agenda regarding human rights protection and emphasized that crucial institutional issues that had seemed unsolvable for many years have also been addressed: “Firstly, in December 2018, we had extraordinary parliamentary elections, and they were the first in our country’s history whose results were not questioned by either international or Armenian society. On the contrary, they were widely assessed by all international and local observers as free, competitive, and democratic.”

Addressing the challenges, the Prime Minister noted that today Armenia is an indisputable democratic country, but this democracy now exists in Armenia as an emotional expression, and it is an emotional continuation of the 2018 revolution: “We now need to strengthen the democracy of our country institutionally, so that its future is not related to any leader, person, or political party's preferences, moods, or discretion, and we will undeniably move forward in this regard.”

Another major challenge, according to Pashinyan, is the establishment of an independent judicial system: “In Armenia, we acknowledge that alongside the legislative and executive powers, the judicial power has also contributed to massive violations of human rights. Therefore, today our primary challenge is to have a truly independent judicial system. I want to state our government’s position. We are not at all interested in a judicial system under control, and we are fundamentally opposed to having a judicial system under control. However, when the Armenian government demonstrated its practical and political will to abandon the practice of controlling the judicial system, it turned out that this opens a certain space for those who previously had control over the judicial system, and they assessed this as an opportunity to continue imposing control over the judicial system, thus trying to roll back the democratic changes that have occurred in Armenia.”

Pashinyan reiterated from the parliamentary podium that in Armenia, the judicial system must undergo profound, substantive changes from top to bottom so that this judicial system is genuinely independent and one of the key institutions of democracy, human rights protection, and legality in Armenia. He emphasized that today there are significant quality-related issues regarding the functioning of the entire legal system: “Our problems are objective because these systems have operated for many years in conditions that have been fundamentally adverse to human rights protection, and in the new environment, we also need a new law enforcement system.”

Ultimately, in the context of all these reforms, the Ombudsman’s institution is key for the government because, according to the Prime Minister, they view the Ombudsman as a catalyst for evaluating the reforms they are implementing: “We see it as a counterweight to the assessment of our very best, most benevolent, most democratic objectives, and I am convinced that the Ombudsman plays such a role in Armenia, and the Armenian government, the ruling political majority in Armenia will do everything necessary to create all favorable conditions for the Ombudsman’s activities as one of the most important institutions of democracy, legality, and human rights protection.”

Concluding his speech, the head of the government expressed confidence that the state of human rights protection in Armenia will improve with each passing day, week, month, and year, and this will result not from the confrontation between the government and the Ombudsman, but from the cooperation between these two institutions.