Armenia

Council of Europe Office in Yerevan

A two-day event for police officers in Armenia improved their knowledge and understanding of equality and non-discrimination concepts in accordance with the European standards.

The opening part of the training session was attended by the Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Arpine Sargsyan, by the Human Rights Defender Anahit Manasyan and the Head of the Office of the Representative for International Legal Affairs Liparit Drmeyan.  In her welcoming remarks, Deputy Minister Arpine Sargsyan highlighted the importance of joint discussions and training initiatives to ensure systemic solutions for challenges faced by police officers in their daily work.

The training enhanced capacities of police officers in several key equality areas, such as effective strategies for protecting vulnerable and marginalized groups; understanding and applying international standards for human rights, and improving their ability to respond to hate crimes and discrimination.  Other important topics discussed included the respectful and non-discriminatory treatment of victims; community engagement and relationships when policing at the local level; building trust and cooperation with minority communities and vulnerable groups, ensuring the protection of human rights of all citizens.

This capacity building training session is part of the European Union and Council of Europe joint programme “Partnership for Good Governance”, co-funded by the European Union and the Council of Europe, and implemented by the Council of Europe, in the framework of the project “Promoting equality and non-discrimination in Armenia”.