On April 27-28, the regular report of Armenia was presented in Geneva to the Committee on Elimination of Racial Discrimination. The Armenian delegation, headed by the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Ashot Hovakimyan, included also the Deputy Minister of Justice Vigen Kocharyan, the officials of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Armenia and the Permanent Representation of the Republic of Armenia to the UN office in Geneva.

The delegation of the Republic of Armenia presented the steps taken towards implementation of the provisions of the Convention on Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination as well as answered the numerous questions of members of the Committee. It was specifically highlighted that as a result of the amendments made to the Constitution and the Electoral Code the representatives of national minorities received four parliamentary mandates in the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia.

Members of the Committee commended the progress registered in Armenia in the fight against racial discrimination and the readiness of the Government of the Republic of Armenia to undertake continuous steps towards the full implementation of the provisions of the Convention.

Reference note.
The UN Committee on Elimination of Racial Discrimination is a supervisory body comprised of 18 independent experts. The Committee monitors the process of implementation of the provisions of the Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. The countries which have acceded to the Convention are obliged to submit to the Committee regular reports on the implementation of the Convention. The Committee examines each report and addresses its concerns and recommendations to the State party in the form of “concluding observations”. The Republic of Armenia has ratified the Convention on June 23, 1993. The Chairperson of the Committee is Anastasia Crickley (Ireland), the Rapporteur for Armenia is Noureddine Amir (Algeria).