On 19 December the Law Development and Protection Foundation held the conference on the topic “Secret Surveillance Measures: International Good Practice and Standards Set by the ECHR, Issues of Armenian Legislation.” The aim of the conference was to sum up the findings revealed in the framework of the project titled “Analysis of the Judgments of the European Court of Human Rights finding Violation of Article 8 of the ECHR” and outline the possible solutions.

In September 2020, the South Caucasus has plunged into a major security crisis due to the large-scale military attack launched by Azerbaijan in Nagorno-Karabakh. The conflict, which is now known as the 44-Day War, has resulted in many deaths, the depopulation of multiple towns and villages, and an alarming humanitarian crisis on the ground. Two years have passed since the war, but major security issues have not been resolved yet, the fundamental rights of many people remain violated, and there is a significant and growing threat of new clashes and atrocities.

The undersigned civil society organizations consider the election of Judge Mnatsakan Martirosyan among the judges investigating corruption crimes by the Supreme Judicial Council as highly unacceptable and condemnable. Mnatsakan Martirosyan is known as a judge involved in high-profile political cases. On his court decisions a number of political prisoners were convicted.

On October 6 a discussion entitled “Human Rights and Humanitarian Issues after the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War” was held in Warsaw in the scope of Human Dimension Conference of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR).