Naslov
Armenia: Opinion on the Draft Constitutional Law on the Human Rights Defender

Autori
Aurescu, Bogdan ; Holmøyvik, Eirik ; Omejec, Jasna ; Sørensen, Jørgen Steen

Izvornik
ARMENIA: OPINION ON THE DRAFT CONSTITUTIONAL LAW ON THE HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDER, adopted by the Venice Commission at its 109th Plenary Session (Venice, 9‒10 December 2016), Opinion No. 866/2016, CDL-AD(2016)044, Strasbourg, 12 December 2016

Vrsta, podvrsta
Ostale vrste radova, ekspertiza

Godina
2016

Ključne riječi
Armenia ; human rights defender ; ombudsman ; national preventive mechanism

Sažetak
The Armenian Draft Constitutional Law on the Human Rights Defender (hereinafter: the Draft Constitutional Law) was prepared after the new Armenian Constitution was adopted by referendum on 6 December 2015. According to Article 103.2 of the new Constitution, “the Law on the Human Rights Defender shall be a constitutional law […] and shall be adopted by at least a three-fifths majority vote of the total number of parliamentarians. The legal provisions of a constitutional law shall not exceed its subject scope.” According to Article 5.1 of the new Constitution (hierarchy of legal norms), the Constitution has “supreme legal force” in the Armenian legal system and “[l]aws shall conform to the constitutional laws” (Article 5.2). According to Article 210.2 of the new Constitution (harmonisation of Laws with the Amendments to the Constitution), constitutional laws “shall be harmonised with the Constitution…”. Hence, a constitutional law does not have the same legal force as the Constitution. The new Constitution’s entry into force is being phased in, and most of its provisions will be in force by the beginning of April 2017 (Article 209 of the new Constitution). This opinion is based on relevant European and international standards, including in particular the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture (OPCAT), adopted in 2002 and entered into force in 2006 ; the Guidelines on National Preventive Mechanisms, Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (SPT) ; the Compilation of Venice Commission Opinions concerning the Ombudsman Institution (CDL-PI(2016)001) ; the Principles relating to the Status of National Institutions (Paris Principles of 1993) ; Recommendations 1615(2003) on the Institution of Ombudsman and 1742(2006) on Human rights of members of the armed forces of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), as well as the Venice Commission’s previous opinions and reports on the matter. The Draft Constitutional Law largely complies with the above mentioned European and international standards, is detailed, well- structured and deals with most of the major issues that a law on the Ombudsman should regulate. It has taken most of the recommendations made by the Venice Commission in its previous opinions into account. Nevertheless, there are a number of important recommendations that it should be made and these include, inter alia: - providing for a transparent competitive selection of the Human Rights Defender, include proposals from civil society and from political parties in order to enable the selection of highly qualified candidates so as to provide legitimacy to the process ; - making clear that the Human Rights Defender has no competence over the judiciary as concerns individual cases ; - introducing safeguards against unwarranted cutbacks to improve the Defender’s functional independence, etc.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Pravo

POVEZANOST RADA