OSCE Office in Yerevan visits penal colony for women and juveniles

YEREVAN, 30 August 2006 - OSCE Office representatives and board members of the Public Monitoring Group for Penitentiary Institutions today visited the Abovian Women and Juvenile Colony to present school-related items for the new academic year to children in detention, as well as provide OSCE publications to the library.

The visitors met with prison administration, detainees and the only child born in prison, who will go to a regular school for the first time this year. Board members also observed physical conditions and the overall protection of detainees' rights.

"This is my fifth visit to this criminal executive institution, and I can see some progress in the area of arranging visit s and cell space allocation," said Michael Baghdasaryan, Chairman of the Board. "However, there is still obviously room for improvement in the sanitary and hygiene conditions of the institution."

The OSCE has been supporting criminal justice reform in Armenia since 2001, among other ways through helping to establish the Public Monitoring Group, which began operating in 2004. The Group monitors the rights of detainees in criminal executive institutions and provides recommendations to the Justice Ministry to improve the situation.

Besides day-to-day support provided to the group, the OSCE Yerevan Office provides regular training for the members of the Group, jointly with OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, and invites experts in the field from other participating States to exchange experiences with their Armenian colleagues.