From April 11 through 13, High Level Segment of the 13th Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice kicked off in Doha, capital of Qatar, organized by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.  Deputy Foreign Minister of Armenia Ashot Hovakimyan and Deputy Minister of Justice Arman Tatoyan represented Armenia at the High Level Segment of the Congress.

Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon and Prime Minister of Qatar, Minister of State for Internal Affairs Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani delivered welcoming messages.

In his remarks, Ashot Hovakimian confirmed Armenia’s commitment to continue the reforms in the criminal justice field, as well as within the frameworks of international cooperation to continue the fight against human trafficking, illegal drug trafficking, terrorism, cyber-crimes, other expressions of transnational organized crime.

Ashot Hovakimian attached importance to the necessity of international cooperation for prevention, condemnation and punishment of those responsible in the gravest crime against humanity – genocide, and Armenia’s moral obligation in this process as a nation,that survived the Genocide. In response to groundless accusations voiced by the Azerbaijani delegation, Deputy Foreign Minister of Armenia stressed that the people of Nagorno-Karabakh itself enjoys political, social, economic and cultural rights, implementing the purpose of the UN Charter – principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples.