Restricted funding for Ombudsman's Office 'under Venice Commission's study'
The European Commission for Democracy through Law (Venice Commission) has initiated studies into the bill proposing reduced funding for the Office of the Human Rights Defender of Armenia.
The Council of Europe's advisory body considered the issue as part of its two-day session between March 19 and 20, making its decision on pursuing the proposed reforms available to the public, the Ombudsman's Office reports.
The controversial bill had received approval by the Armenian cabinet, which proposed eliminating Section 5, Article 8 of the constitutional law "On the Human Rights Defender". Under the legislative provision, the Ombudsman’s Office cannot receive less budgetary funding for national prevention mechanisms compared to the previous fiscal year
Ombudsman Arman Tatoyan contends that the exclusion of the norm would abolish the institutional independence of his office, posing also a real risk of stripping the agency of its A-class status (authorizing the human rights defender to deliver speeches at UN agencies, elect and be elected to senior posts at international organizations).
Earlier, the head of the European Network of National Human Rights Institutions (ENHRI) issued an open letter to the president of the National Assembly of Armenia, calling for efforts to retain the legislative provision as the best practice in Europe.
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