Constitutional Law of The Republic of Armenia on Human Rights Defender

Article 1.  Subject matter of the Law

 

This Constitutional Law shall define the powers, procedure and guarantees for the activities of the Human Rights Defender of the Republic of Armenia (hereinafter referred to as "the Defender"), the procedure for election and termination of powers of the Defender, peculiarities of the legal status of persons holding state service positions within the Staff of the Defender (hereinafter referred to as "the state servant"), of appointing them to and dismissing from position, conferring class ranks, organising and managing the state service, as well as other relations pertaining thereto.

 

Article 2.       Human Rights Defender

 

1.        The Defender is an independent official who observes the maintenance of human rights and freedoms by public and local self-government bodies and officials, and in cases prescribed by this law also by organisations, facilitates the restoration of violated rights and freedoms, improvement of normative legal acts related to rights and freedoms.

2.        The Defender shall be entrusted with the mandate of the National Preventive Mechanism provided by the Optional Protocol — adopted on 18 December 2002 — to the 1984 UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (hereinafter referred to as "the National Preventive Mechanism").

3.        The Defender shall conduct monitoring of the implementation of the provisions of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child adopted on 20 November 1989, as well as carry out prevention of violations of the rights of the child and the protection thereof.

 

Article 3.   Principles of the activities of the Defender

1.   In the course of exercising his or her powers, the Defender shall be guided by the principles of legal equality, impartiality, publicity, transparency and other principles set forth in the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia.

 

Article 4.       Restriction on the Defender to engage in other activities

1.        The Defender may not hold any position not related to his or her status within other public or local self-government bodies, any position within commercial organisations, engage in entrepreneurial activities, and perform other paid work except for scientific, educational and creative activities.

2.        The Defender may join or otherwise engage in activities of international human rights organisations where it does not contradict the functions reserved to the Defender by the Constitution and this Law, as well as where it does not affect his or her impartiality.

3.        The Human Rights Defender may not, during his or her term of office, hold membership in any political party or otherwise engage in political activities. The Defender shall be obliged to show political restraint in public speeches.