On 11-14 September, the representatives of the Human Rights Defender’s Office made an official visit to Oslo, the capital of the Kingdom of Norway, in order to develop the capacity of the Human Rights Defender's specialized Military Personnel Rights Protection Department. The visit was organized within the “Strengthening the application of European human rights standards in the armed forces in Armenia” project of the Council of Europe with the United Kingdom government's support. Besides the representatives of the Human Rights Defender’s Office, there were also representatives from the Ministry of Defense of Armenia, the Standing Committee of the National Assembly, Military Prosecutor’s Office, as well as from the Investigative Committee.
During the visit, meetings were held with the Head of the Parliamentary Ombudsman for the Norwegian Armed Forces’ Office, the world’s first Norwegian model of human rights protection in the armed forces was introduced, and the Norwegian experience regarding the conscription of male and female citizens and the organization of military service was studied.
The delegation representatives had a meeting with the representatives of the Norwegian Ministry of Defense, the Military Prosecutor's Office, the Norwegian Institute for Defense Studies, the Norwegian Defense College, the Norwegian Parliamentary Intelligence Oversight Committee, and other non-governmental organizations involved in the protection of the servicemen’s rights.
A visit to the Norwegian Armed Forces was organized to study the Norwegian experience, during which the delegation representatives got acquainted with the methodology of conducting educational programs in the military police units, talked to the mandatory military servicemen of one of the military police units and learned about his military life.
According to the agreement between the Norwegian Ombudsman and the Head of the Human Rights Defender’s Criminal Justice and Military Personnel Rights Protection Department, the cooperation between these two institutions will continue.