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Armenia’s Human Rights Defender (or Ombudsman) Karen Andreasyan assured the audience that had gathered for the Civilitas Foundation’s regular 100 Questions and Answers forum that he is ready to go as far it takes to address human rights violations – as far the law permits him and as far as Armenia’s society, aware and informed, supports him. “As an observer of the human rights situation in Armenia, it is my duty to voice concerns even about issues about which our office does not receive complaints. If there are no complaints in one sector that does not mean that the field is void of human rights violations,” noted Andreasyan.

The Ombudsman, who has been in office for just a few months, acknowledged that Armenia’s position in international human rights indexes reflects realities that are real, at least to some extent.  “We take these reports seriously, despite occasional exaggerations, and advise those in other agencies and offices to closely study them as well. The issues are significant and important,” he noted.

Referring to the annual reports issued by his two predecessors and to his own experience in office thus far, Mr. Andreasyan said that most of the complaints lodged by citizens are about the court system, which is charged with defending their rights, and over which the Ombudsman’s office does not exercise authority, followed by City Hall and the police. In 13 percent of cases the Ombudsman’s office has managed to successfully address citizens’ complaints. On the other hand, he said, although there’s much talk about violations by the tax and customs services, no official complaints have been lodged by either individuals or organizations. “To tackle specific issues, especially those in the areas of social rights and employment, we need to talk about these things openly and we need to receive specific complaints to start to work in that direction.”

“It is often noted that human rights issues are often ignored by government officials. I can assure you that the Ombudsman’s Office is neither dismissed nor overlooked by the Government,” stated Andreasyan. “In some areas we are just beginning to offer specific specialized expertise and we need public support to become even more effective,” he said. “There is a public service element in our work and we are concerned about providing that service well. There is increased interest and readiness to cooperate with us, I have to say,” said Andreasyan.

Karen Andreasyan was the third guest in the Civilitas 100 Questions, 100 Answers series. Previous guests were Civilitas Founder Vartan Oskanian and Armenian Revolutionary Federation Parliament Faction Leader Vahan Hovhannisyan.