Government Of Armenia

E-mail: armconla@aol.com U.S. IMMIGRATION REQUIREMENTS Prospective adopting parents are strongly encouraged to consult U.S. CIS publication M-249, The Immigration of Adopted and Prospective Adopting Children, as well as the Department of State publication, International Adoptions. The U.S. CIS publication is available at the U.S. CIS Web site. The Department of State publication International Adoptions can be found on the Bureau of Consular Affairs Web site, travel.state.gov, under “International Adoptions.” ... [Read More]

Armenia

The Government's human rights record was poor in several important areas, and although there were improvements in a few areas, problems persist in numerous areas. Substantial intervention by local power structures in the election process continues to restrict citizens' ability to change their Government peacefully. There were no reports that members of the security forces committed extrajudical killings due to severe beatings and mistreatment in detention. However, there were no reports of government action against individuals who may have been responsible for the reported 54 deaths in custody in 1999. Members of the security forces routinely beat detainees during arrest and interrogation, arbitrarily arrested and detained persons without warrants, and did not respect constitutional protections regarding privacy and due process. Impunity remains a problem, and the Government rarely investigates abuses by members of the security forces. Prison conditions did improve; however, they still ... [Read More]

Armenia

Armenia is a constitutional parliamentary democracy; however, the directly elected President has extensive powers of decree and appointment, including of the Prime Minister, that are not balanced by the legislature or an independent judiciary. Robert Kocharian was re-elected President in March. There were flaws and substantial irregularities in both the February and March rounds of the presidential elections and in the May parliamentary elections. A constitutional referendum on executive powers failed in a national vote in May. The Constitution provides for an independent judiciary; however, in practice, judges were subject to pressure from the executive and executive branches, and corruption was a problem.The National Police and the National Security Service are responsible for domestic security, intelligence activities, border controls, and the police force. The civilian authorities maint ... [Read More]

Country Report on Human Rights Practices in Armenia

The Government's human rights record remained poor; although there were some improvements in a few areas, serious problems remained. Security forces beat pretrial detainees, and impunity remained a problem. There were instances of arbitrary arrests and detentions. In April, police used excessive force to disperse an opposition rally, detained opposition politicians, and raided opposition party offices. During the year, the Government helped to create a civilian prison monitoring board and permitted independent monitoring of prison conditions. There were reports that the Government limited the right to privacy. There were some limits on press freedom. Journalists engaged in self-censorship to avoid problems with government authorities, and there were some instances of violence against journalists. The law places some restrictions on religious freedom. In October, the Government approved the registration of Jehovah's Witnesses as a legal entity. While the Government took steps to limit t ... [Read More]

Armenia

The Constitution provides for freedom of religion; however, the law specifies some restrictions on the religious freedom of adherents of minority faiths, and there were some restrictions in practice. The Armenian Apostolic Church, which has formal legal status as the national church, enjoys some privileges not available to adherents of other faiths.There was no overall change in the status of respect for religious freedom during the period covered by this report. In March 2002, the Government abolished the State Council on Religious Affairs (CRA) by presidential decree. The Government continued to reject the application by the Jehovah's Witnesses for legal recognition as a registered religion, and members of the group reported individual acts of discrimination. Other denominations occasionally report acts of dis ... [Read More]

Armenia

In October 1999, five terrorists opened fire on a session of Parliament with automatic weapons. They killed the Prime Minister, the Speaker of Parliament, the two Deputy Speakers, the Minister for Special Projects, and three deputies, and wounded the Minister of Privatization and four other deputies, some critically. Deputy Procurator General Jhangirian (who is also the Military Prosecutor) was placed in charge of the investigation of the shootings. By the end of 1999, 19 persons, including a National Assembly deputy (who was stripped of his immunity by a vote of that body), the then-presidential chief of staff and advisor, and the deputy chief of state television, had been imprisoned. The investigation was criticized by attorneys for the accused, by the media, and by representatives of human rights organizations for alleged human rights abuses, including physical and mental coercion of the detainees. For example, chief defendant Nairi Hunanian claimed he was threatened and tortured in ... [Read More]

Armenia

The Government did not investigate allegations of abuse by security services except in rare cases under pressure from human rights groups and only where death had resulted. In July 2001, the Human Rights Commission held open hearings on more than 50 complaints of torture by the Military Prosecutor's Office, which led to the filing of only one case during the year. Most complaints involved inhumane treatment, torture, and beatings of service men at the so-called reception and deployment stations (detention facilities of the military police). The next week, the Commission held another round of hearings together with the Military Prosecutor Gagik Jhangirian and Chief of the Military Police Vladimir Gasparian. Both Jhangirian and Gasparian denied the claims of torture. Subsequently family members of those killed staged a protest outside of the office, demanding Jhangirian's resignation. During the year, the Procuracy investigated 18 cases of torture sent by the Human Right Commission; some ... [Read More]

V. Country Narratives -- Countries A through G

Cyprus is a destination country for women trafficked from Eastern and Central Europe for the purpose of sexual exploitation. Traffickers who forced women into prostitution continued to fraudulently recruit victims for work as dancers in cabarets and nightclubs on short-term "artiste" visas, for work in pubs and bars on employment visas, or for illegal work on tourist or student visas. There was increasing evidence of Chinese women being trafficked for sexual exploitation in Cyprus. The Government of Cyprus does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so. Cyprus made some progress in its anti-trafficking efforts over the past year. The new police anti-trafficking unit produced successful results and showed vigilance in combating the problem. Government recognition of the problem improve ... [Read More]

IV. Country Narratives: Europe and Eurasia

Austria expanded efforts to punish trafficking in persons in 2003. Several articles in the criminal code specifically prohibit trafficking and trafficking-related situations and impose sufficiently severe penalties. In February 2004, the Austrian parliament adopted an amendment to article 217 of the criminal code that expands the definition of trafficking to include exploitation of labor and the trafficking of organs. Under article 217, the key provision for the prosecution of traffickers, the government prosecuted 223 cases. The most recent conviction statistics, from 2002, indicate that the government filed 70 cases against suspected traffickers under this article, with 27 convictions. Seventeen of these persons spent some time in prison, with the majority serving a year or less. Prosecutors often rely on other provisions that criminalize alien smuggling, due to the difficulty of proving unlawful coercion and deception. Austrian authorities reported 744 prosecutions initiated ... [Read More]

Armenia (04/05)

The Government of Armenia's stated aim is to build a Western-style parliamentary democracy as the basis of its form of government. However, international observers have questioned the inherent fairness of parliamentary and presidential elections and constitutional referenda during each of the previous nationwide elections (1995, 1999, and 2003), citing polling deficiencies, lack of cooperation by the electoral commission, poor maintenance of electoral lists, and access to polling places. The new constitution of 1995 greatly expanded the powers of the executive branch and gives it much more influence over the judiciary and municipal officials. ... [Read More]