Statement of FIDH President Souhayr Belhassen on the eve of the 37th Congress of FIDH

24/03/2010
Press release
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Paris, March 24, 2010 – The preparation of the FIDH 37th Congress and Forum organised by FIDH and its partner organisation CSI in Erevan, Armenia on April 6-10 Forum 2010 continues. More than 250 participants have already confirmed their presence and many other confirmations are expected soon. FIDH, together with CSI, Helsinki Committee of Armenia, the Collaboration for Democracy Centre and the Foundation against Violation of Law published a briefing paper on the administration of justice last Friday.

« I am very pleased that we published the briefing paper on the administration of justice together with our colleagues from Armenian NGOs » declared FIDH president Souhayr Belhassen today. «This paper clearly reflects the spirit of our work. The point is to attract the attention of the authorities to the serious problems that exist today in the administration of justice and which significantly hinder the Rule of Law in Armenia, as well as to draw the attention of auhtorities to issues related to the situation of human rights in Armenia. In this document, we issued essential recommendations and sincerely hope that the Forum will be an occasion to move forward and have these recommendations implemented. We thereby reiterate the recommendations presented in this paper and in the position papers we have published over the past years. In particular, we hope that the Forum will be launched in an Armenia where there are no longer any political prisoners. It is also of utmost importance that credible and effective investigations on the cases of the ten people who were killed in the March 2008 events is opened.»

« Releasing political prisoners and conducting such investigations would be a true sign of moving towards effective Rule of Law in Armenia.», concluded Souhayr Belhassen.

Briefing paper : http://www.fidh.org/IMG/pdf/arbriefingpaper1903a.pdf
For further information on FIDH forum in Armenia : http://www.fidh.org/JUSTICE-NEW-CHALLENGES-The-Right-to-an-Effective

Press contact :
Gaël Grilhot : +33-1 43 55 90 19
Karine APPY : +33-1 43 55 14 12

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