COE ABOUT ARMENIAN ARMED FORCES
Support A1+!Today during a meeting of the Legal Affairs Committee in Paris PACE rapporteur on human rights of members of the armed forces, Alexander Arabadjiev (Bulgaria, SOC) presented adoption of his report. Here is the part concerning Armenia.
In Armenia, NGOs continue to condemn the infliction of violence and initiation rites on young conscripts. The situation of conscripts in the armed forces has been monitored by the rapporteurs of the Assembly's Committee on the Honouring of Obligations and Commitments by Member States of the Council of Europe. In 2003, the Chief of Staff of Armenia's Armed Forces acknowledged that around 10 cases of dedovshchina still occurred each year. The Ministry of Defence admitted 56 non-combat deaths in 2001, and 33 during the first half of 2002. NGOs report 64 deaths for 2003. The US Department of State Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 2003 mentions official figures according to which 35 soldiers died in the army in 2003; 9 of these deaths resulted from hazing. Moreover, young conscripts who are homosexual, Yezidi and Jehovah's Witnesses reported that they were singled out for harassment or abuse by officers and other conscripts . Refusal to serve is a widespread phenomenon: material and living conditions in the armed forces are very poor, and, moreover, conscripts may be sent to Nagorno-Karabakh or neighbouring regions.
