The Council of Europe is committed to increasing the protection of persons with mental health issues and improving mental health care, promoting a human rights-based approach to mental healthcare.

To support this, the Council of Europe HELP Course on “Mental Health and Human Rights” was developed in 2024 as part of the Council of Europe Action Plan for Armenia 2023-2026. The course was developed in close co-operation with the Council of Europe Steering Committee for Human Rights in the fields of Biomedicine and Health (CDBIO). 

On 20 March 2025, the Council of Europe organised an event with national authorities of the Republic of Armenia to mark the official launch of the Armenian version of the abovementioned Course.

Designed using the HELP methodology, the course is specifically tailored to meet the learning needs of legal and healthcare professionals involved in the protection of the human rights of people with mental health issues. The Course has a significant importance not only for Armenia but for other member states as well, fostering increased knowledge among healthcare and legal professionals as well other relevant stakeholders on applicable human rights standards relevant for all persons with mental health issues, including people in particularly vulnerable situations, such as migrants and refugees, or people deprived of liberty.

The event was opened by Maxime Longangué, Council of Europe Head of Office, Laurence Lwoff, Head of Human Rights and Biomedicine Division of the Council of Europe, Anahit Manasyan, Human Rights Defender of Armenia, Arsen Torosyan, Chair of the Standing Committee on Healthcare Affairs of the National Assembly,  Rustam Bakoyan, Acting Chair of the Standing Committee on Human Rights and Public Affairs of the National Assembly, and Artak Jumayan, the Deputy Minister of Health.

The speakers unanimously agreed that mental health is one of the biggest challenges of current healthcare systems. 

In addition, it was emphasized that the rights of persons with mental health issues are frequently at risk worldwide. To address this issue appropriate measures are needed to strengthen legal frameworks to protect the rights of persons with mental health issues, promote good practices on their autonomy and raise awareness on mental health.

The implementation of the course should contribute to the execution by Armenia of the ECtHR judgement “Nikolyan vs Armenia” and successful implementation of the “National Human Rights Strategy and Action Plan 2023-2025”.

The event also highlighted the achievements of the previous phase of the project "Protection of Human Rights in Biomedicine” as well as outlined the new directions of cooperation for the current phase.

The event was organised by the Council of Europe as part of its Project on “Protection of Human Rights in Biomedicine III” implemented within the framework of the  Council of Europe Action Plan for Armenia 2023-2026.