Human Rights Defender of Armenia Visits Artsakh

On March 4, I made my first official visit outside the borders of Armenia as the Human Rights Defender of the Republic of Armenia to Artsakh. This was reported by the Human Rights Defender of Armenia, Kristine Grigoryan, on her Facebook page.

“During the visit, I met with officials in Artsakh, spoke with residents of border villages and local self-government officials, familiarized myself with their issues, visited the temporary residences of displaced Artsakh Armenians, talked with the residents, and learned about their needs. I began my meetings at the office of my Artsakh counterpart. Together with Gegham Stepanian, the Human Rights Defender of Artsakh, and our staff, we discussed in detail and outlined three important areas for future collaboration: protecting the rights of displaced Artsakh Armenians established in Armenia, including those deprived of liberty, collecting evidence of the anti-Armenian policies of the Azerbaijani authorities, and presenting them to relevant international bodies, as well as contributing to the institutional development of the Artsakh Defender’s Office through various mechanisms.

Mr. Stepanian and I expressed our mutual commitment to continue the close cooperation between our institutions, which has already become a tradition. During the working visit, I received a warm welcome from the President of the Republic of Artsakh, Araik Harutyunyan. We discussed a number of issues related to the cooperation between the defenders of human rights in Armenia and Artsakh during our meeting.

Subsequently, I met with the Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly, Gagik Bagunts. During the meeting, we addressed questions related to the challenges and opportunities faced by the human rights defenders' institutions, and then the meeting continued in an expanded format with the participation of the leaders of parliamentary factions and heads of permanent committees, during which we had a very productive exchange of ideas,” she wrote.