On April 19, public hearings were held on Armenia's second mid-term report prepared within the framework of the UN Universal Periodic Review. The discussion was organized through the joint efforts of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the United Nations Development Programme and the “UPR Info” International NGO (Geneva).

Deputy Foreign Minister Ashot Hovakimian, UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative for Armenia Shomby Sharp and representative of “UPR Info” Hans Friedland made opening remarks.

In his remarks, Deputy Foreign Minister highlighted the importance of submitting the UPR voluntary report, which helps evaluate the accomplished work, as well as clarifies further steps aimed at fulfilling the recommendations of the international monitoring bodies. He underlined that Armenia is among those countries that have adopted the high number of recommendations, most of which are in the implementation stage or have already been implemented.

Ashot Hovakimian attached importance to the fact that Armenia is an international pioneer in the prevention of the crime of genocide, which is attested to by the fact of the adoption of the resolution on “Genocide prevention” initiated by Armenia. The last such resolution was adopted by the UN Human Rights Council in March this year. Deputy Minister Hovakimian underlined that these works are also part of the implementation of the UPR recommendations.

Mr. Sharp highlighted the importance of the fact that Armenia provided the UPR voluntary report, which indicates that the country keeps the implementation of commitments within the focus of its attention. For his part, Hans Friedland in his remarks underlined that Armenia could be considered as a country with positive experience in presenting UPR voluntary reports.

The Deputy Minister of Justice Vigen Kocharyan delivered remarks as well, and in his speech he touched in detail upon the course of implementation of the 2017-2019 National Human Rights Protection Strategy Action Plan, the adoption of a number of important laws, and highlighted the importance of cooperation with civil society.

After the speeches, officials from ministries and other state institutions responded to the questions of the representatives of the civil society and non-governmental organizations.