Further reforms needed in Armenian penitentiaries, OSCE-supported report says

YEREVAN, 8 September 2009 - Efforts to bring Armenian penitentiaries and detention centres into line with international human rights standards are progressing, but further improvement of penitentiary instiutions' facilities and in the treatment of the detainees is needed, according to an OSCE-supported report released today.

The annual report presents the results of monitoring of pre-trial detention centres and penitentiary institutions conducted in 2008 by the Group of Public Observers established under the Justice Ministry. The report assesses healthcare, sanitary conditions, food quality and treatment of detainees. 

"Public monitoring helps to ensure a transparent and accountable penitentiary system. The OSCE Office hopes that the recommendations provided in the report will serve as a complementary source for the government in its efforts to reform the penitentiary system. In this regard we welcome the close co-operation of the Ministry of Justice with the Monitoring Group," said Shahriniso Najmetdinova, the Human Rights Officer at the OSCE Office in Yerevan.

The Group made more than 350 recommendations on how the shortcomings identified should be addressed both through reforms to the system and institutions. On reform efforts, the report found positive changes and restructuring aimed at bringing penitentiaries into line with legislative requirements, and an improvement of contacts of the detainees and prisoners with the outside world.

Areas of concern include overcrowding due to ineffective parole procedures. The report also points out that the commissions assessing the early release of prisoners are staffed solely by law enforcement and do not offer clear criteria for decision making, and recommends that psychological and social specialists should be included in the process.

"The transparency of the penitentiary is a safeguard of respect for human rights. Presently, Armenia has one of the most successful public oversight systems that allows civil society representatives to be present and to monitor any prisoner's situation in any penitentiary institution without giving prior notice of their visits, which is an effective preventive mechanism," said Arman Danielyan, the Head of the Public Observers' Group.

The report was prepared and published with the support of the OSCE Office in Yerevan in partnership with the Open Society Institute Law and Health Initiative.