Strengthening co-operation between Armenian police and civil society highlighted in meeting between police and OSCE Office in Yerevan

On 18 August 2016 the Head of the OSCE Office in Yerevan Argo Avakov met with the Deputy Head of the Armenian Police Vardan Yeghiazaryan to discuss developments related to the 17 July seizure of the Erebuni police compound in Yerevan and the OSCE Office in Yerevan’s willingness to provide assistance to Armenian authorities and civil society to strengthen trust and co-operation between the police and the public.

Ambassador Avakov informed the police about the OSCE’s approach to overall security sector reform, which promotes co-operation between civil society and authorities and supports the strengthening of independent monitoring and oversight mechanisms. He described the Office’s initiative to create a civil society advisory council that will serve as a consultative body for the OSCE’s work in security sector reform. In the specific area of policing, the Ambassador described OSCE initiatives that can promote direct dialogue between police, civil society and the public at large on issues such as public order management and the exercise of freedom of assembly.

The Deputy Head of the police proposed to organize police-media roundtable events to improve police relations with the mass media and civil society. The Office representatives noted that in the course of the previous roundtable discussions between the police and the media facilitated by the OSCE Office some of the concerns raised by civil society representatives about the police behavior during assemblies unfortunately remained unresolved. The Office proposed that the police take into consideration the issues raised and suggested that the roundtable discussions could come up with recommendations and solutions on the improvement of public order management in Armenia.

Ambassador Avakov expressed his condolences to the Deputy Head of the Police and the families of the police officers who lost their lives and commended the professionalism of negotiators who had prevented further loss of life among hostages and armed men in the Erebuni compound.

Ambassador Avakov welcomes the actions taken to investigate allegations of inappropriate behavior and violence by individual police officers toward journalists and demonstrators during the recent demonstrations.

OSCE good practice is that police forces, other law enforcement agencies and prison services are subject to independent oversight systems, with transparent internal discipline and public complaint procedures.