Today, the special training-discussions initiated by the Human Rights Defender for the staff of the Penitentiary Service and penitentiary institutions, including doctors, psychologists and security staff who directly interact with persons deprived of liberty are completed.
During the 6-day training-discussions, the representatives of the Human Rights Defender's National Prevention Mechanism and independent experts introduced national and international standards on prevention of torture and inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. Issues concerning the socio-psychological and medical problems in penitentiary institutions, specifically with regard to psychological consultation, organization of health services, medical ethics, prevention of suicide and supervision over hunger strike were discussed.
“There should be a presumption of confidence towards a person deprived of liberty. An individual work should be carried out with them. It is necessary to prepare a person deprived of liberty for release step by step, namely, a convict should be aware about the roadmap of release guaranteed by the state. What have we done? Over the years, we have kept the person isolated, without carrying out any social-psychological work with him and at the end we said that the person was not ready for the release. The state cannot say to a person that he/she is not ready for a release as a result of not fulfilling its positive obligation”, said the Human Rights Defender Arman Tatoyan highlighting the indispensable role of the social-psychological workers and security staff who directly interact with persons deprived of liberty.
The Human Rights Defender regularly stated that human rights protection is a process which requires a comprehensive approach and the staff working in penitentiary system should have sufficient social guarantees and protected work.