On 25 and 26 October, 20 officers from military units located in the south of Armenia took part in a training session on human rights in the armed forces. This training session was the first in the series of four seminars to be conducted by the Council of Europe in October-November 2018, ultimately covering officers from all military corps of the Republic of Armenia.
The seminars are part of the Council of Europe Project “Strengthening the Application of European Human Rights Standards in the Armed Forces in Armenia” funded by the UK Conflict, Stability and Security Fund (CSSF) and the Council of Europe. The Project, launched in late 2016, is the first comprehensive Council of Europe cooperation programme aimed at the Armenian military sector.
The objective of the seminars is to raise officers’ awareness about human rights, underline their universality and explain their practical meaning in the context of military service. The seminars also deepen the officers’ understanding of the concept of “citizens in uniform” – a key European concept in the area. Therefore the participants are deputy commanders with responsibility over soldiers, military lawyers and staff members of the Human Rights and Integrity Building Centre of the Ministry of Defence of Armenia.
A brand-new course was developed for the seminars based on the Council of Europe’s standards (most importantly, the CM/Rec 2010 (4) on human rights of members of armed forces), European best practices and the relevant case law of the European Court of Human Rights. The course is suitable for non-lawyers and includes interactive materials and group work exercises, case studies and discussions that help transfer knowledge on theoretical, practical and behavioural aspects of protecting human rights in the army. The seminars are delivered by two trainers – a lawyer and a psychologist – to best cover all these topics. As they work through this series of seminars, the trainers will complement the materials with answers to the most frequent questions from the audience.
As a follow-up, the most active participants of the course will have an opportunity to get trained in delivering the next stage of seminars to soldiers and non-commissioned officers.