Increase in Self-Harm and Mortality Cases in the Army Over the Last 3 Years: Ombudsman's Representative

The Office of the Human Rights Defender has issued a statement noting: "Today, on October 13, an extended meeting of the Expert Council on the Protection of Human Rights in the Armed Forces, under the Human Rights Defender, took place, during which issues related to non-combat deaths in the army and reinforcing discipline, the state of personnel rights during training gatherings, as well as the humanitarian situation in the context of recent developments in Artsakh were presented and discussed.

Participating in the roundtable discussion organized with the support of the Council of Europe’s program 'Promotion of Human Rights in the Armed Forces of Armenia' were representatives from the Office of the Human Rights Defender, the Council of Europe, the National Assembly, the Ministry of Defense, the Prosecutor General's Office, the Investigative Committee, the National Security Service, the Office of the Security Council, the Chamber of Advocates, and civil society organizations.

Opening remarks were made by Human Rights Defender Anahit Manasyan, Head of the Directorate for Transversal Challenges and Multi-Party Programming of the Council of Europe Tigran Karapetyan, Deputy Minister of Defense Arman Sargsyan, and Chairman of the Standing Committee on Defense and Security of the National Assembly Andranik Kocharyan.

Human Rights Defender Anahit Manasyan specifically emphasized that the protection of the rights of servicemen and their family members and the overall protection of human rights in the Armed Forces are among her priorities.

“The individual complaints addressed to me, the alerts received via the hotline, our visits to military units and other military institutions, as well as continuous communication with servicemen and their family members allow us to highlight systemic and ongoing issues and make these matters a subject of discussion with the aim of finding procedural solutions to the problems,” she stated.

During the meeting, Andranik Yeghoyan, head of the Rights Protection Division for Servicemen and Their Family Members at the Ombudsman’s Office, presented issues related to deaths in peacetime and reinforcing discipline in the army: “The combat readiness of the armed forces is directly linked to military discipline. Over the last three years, we have seen an increase in cases of self-harm and fatalities, which is a serious concern. Several complaints regarding deaths of servicemen during peacetime are currently under active scrutiny at the Ombudsman’s office, along with discussion procedures. We categorize all these issues based on alerts from the hotline, written and verbal complaints, media publications, as well as monitoring visits to military units and individual conversations with military personnel.”

The council meeting also discussed the state of rights protection in the process of training gatherings, complaints addressed to the Ombudsman, and issues identified during various monitoring visits carried out by the Ombudsman’s Rights Protection Division for Servicemen and their families, along with paths to their resolution.

During the Q&A session, participants raised systemic issues pertinent to the sector. A summary of the meeting’s work and an exchange of ideas regarding future actions took place.

The Human Rights Defender highly appreciates the high level of cooperation established with the Council of Europe’s office in Yerevan, competent state bodies, and civil society, which has once again created an effective platform for the joint discussion of existing issues."