Military Personnel

The defense of the Republic of Armenia is organized and implemented by the involvement of state and local-self-government bodies, society and citizens, through the legality and respecting of human rights and fundamental freedoms, and based on the principles of civilian control over the military forces (the law "On Defense" Article 4).

Protection of servicemen's rights and freedoms is one of the main directions of Human Rights Defender activity. For that reason, in 2016 there was set up a specialized subdivision of servicemen's rights protection in the Defender Office that aims to ensure the effective implementation of the Defender authorization for the protection of military servants and their families’ rights. The unit reviews complaints review related to the violations of military servants and their family members’ rights, provides them legal advice and receives citizens. Protection of Military servants’ rights and fundamental freedoms includes raising of legal awareness and the level of legal education in armed forces, complex actions for solving the problems of legal progress as well as the development and improvement of defense-related legal settlement.

They are an important precondition for strengthening the development of military forces, military discipline and law-abiding. In the context of the above-mentioned problems related to the protection of military servants’ rights and freedoms, it is important to strengthen the idea of the rule of law in the armed forces, to make it the lifestyle of military management bodies and oficials to invest mechanisms of legal regulations that will be able to quickly respond to challenges and ensure the effective protection of servicemen rights. According to constitutional reforms of the Republic of Armenia held on December 6, 2015 substantial and significant changes have been made for the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms. Article 3 of the amended Constitution stipulates that a person is the highest value in the Republic of Armenia.

Respect and protection of human and civil rights are the responsibility of public authorities. Public power is limited by fundamental human and civil rights as a directly applicable law. This Constitutional norm shows that the state is equal with citizens. The mentioned Constitutional approach is also applicable in military management body-military servant, military servant-commander, subordinate and superior relations. This is one of the most important requirements of a democratic and legal state, that is fundamental to the realization of the rights and freedoms of military servants and provision of guarantees for their protection. In the armed forces of the Republic of Armenia legal guarantees should be created that would provide each military servant with an opportunity to fulfill his or her rights and freedoms. The construction of democratic, legal state based on protection of human rights is the guarantee of the military security of the Republic of Armenia.

The activity of Human Rights Defender for the protection of rights and fundamental freedoms of military personnel is implemented in three main directions:

1. Implementation of examination procedure based on complaints.

2. Starting examination procedure by his initiative for the protection of rights and freedoms of military servants.

3. Study of the legal acts of defense and presentation his remarks.