Venice Commission to adopt opinion on Armenian draft law
The Venice Commission of the Council of Europe will adopt an opinion on the Armenian draft law on freedom of assembly, at its 85th plenary session on December 17-18.
This joint opinion by OSCE/ODHIR and the Venice Commission was requested by the Human Rights Defender of Armenia, Armen Harutyunyan, on 19 August 2010.
The Venice Commission and the OSCE/ODIHR have been actively involved in the preparation of this draft law since 2004. In 2004, the Venice Commission assessed the first version of this Law (see CDL-AD(2004)039), and in 2005, it gave its legal opinion, jointly with the OSCE/ODIHR, on several series of amendments and addenda to this law prepared by the Armenian authorities (see CDL-AD(2005)007, CDL-AD(2005)021 and CDL-AD(2005)035).
The two organisations have also jointly assessed the "Law on amending and supplementing the Republic of Armenia law on conducting meetings, assemblies, rallies and demonstrations", as adopted in March 2008, as well as the amendments to this law adopted in June 2008. In their joint opinion CDL-AD(2008)020, the Venice Commission and the OSCE/ODIHR, aware of the possibility that the law, though good on paper, could present difficulties in practice, had drawn attention to the need to monitor its implementation.
The new draft law on Assemblies, currently under assessment, was prepared by the Armenian Human Rights Defender and the Presidential Administration of Armenia, in consultation with national and international experts. There is an ongoing dialogue between the Venice Commission, the OSCE/ODIHR, and the Armenian authorities concerning the final version of this draft law.
