Human rights and non-discrimination in focus at OSCE workshop in Yerevan

Domestic and international human rights instruments to fight discrimination were the focus of a one-day workshop organized for lawyers and human rights defenders by the OSCE Office in Yerevan, in co-operation with the Council of Europe and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, on 20 March 2015 in Yerevan.

The workshop focused on recent developments at the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) regarding the domestic execution of Article 14 of the Convention on the prohibition of discrimination. Effective measures that should be ensured under Article 3 on the prohibition of torture, together with Article 14 of the Convention, for vulnerable and disadvantaged groups, were also discussed at the workshop.

Furthermore, participants studied strategic litigation as a tool for fighting discrimination on the international and domestic levels.

The workshop was organized as part of the Council of Europe-European Union Joint Programme on strengthening the capacity of lawyers and human rights defenders for the domestic application of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and of the Revised European Social Charter (RESC). The OSCE Office in Yerevan has supported efforts to enhance the capacities of lawyers and human rights defenders to improve human rights protection.