ARMENIA: Children's rights in the special procedures reports

Summary: This report extracts mentions of children's rights issues in the reports of the UN Special Procedures. This does not include reports of child specific Special Procedures, such as the Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, which are available as separate reports.

Please note that the language may have been edited in places for the purpose of clarity.

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• Representative of the Secretary-General on internally displaced persons
• Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders
• Working Group on arbitrary detention

Representative of the Secretary-General on internally displaced persons

E/CN.4/2—1/5/Add.3

Country visit: 31 October – 9 November 2000
Report published: 6 November 2001

• Displacement crisis: According to government figures, there are 192,000 internally displaced persons in Armenia. This figure covers displacement due to a variety of causes. An estimated 72,000 persons were displaced as a result of military operations in areas bordering Azerbaijan due to the decade-old conflict regarding Nagorno-Karabakh ... The remainder of the internally displaced were uprooted as a result of natural or human-made disasters: an estimated 100,000 persons continue to be displaced as a result of the devastating earthquake of 1988 which resulted in the death of over 25,000 people and rendered some 500,000 persons homeless; 10,000 persons have been displaced as a result of more recent natural disasters, in particular mudslides; and a further 10,000 persons have been internally displaced as a result of human-made disasters. (Paragraph 9)

  Within Armenia proper, internal displacement as a result of the conflict was concentrated in the marzes or districts along the border with Azerbaijan, namely Tavoush, Sjounik, Vajots Dzor, Ararat and Gegharkounik. A comprehensive survey in these regions undertaken in 1998 by the Refugees and Displaced Persons Working Group provides important information about the characteristics of the displacement crisis. Initially, 50-60 per cent of the population, mainly women, children and the elderly, left the villages for the summer pasture lands, where they lived in temporary dwellings. Though in some cases, usually during continuous military actions, residents moved as complete family units, the separation of families was common: half of the displaced households in Tavoush, Vajots Dzor and Gegharkounik marzes constitute families of only one or two members. The other half consists mostly of young families which have remained intact but have been separated from relatives. (Paragraph 13)

  
   
• Education: Educational opportunities also have been severely curtailed. Some border villages have no functioning schools. Where school facilities do exist, 60 per cent require urgent renovation and 12 per cent of the buildings require basic renovation to make them usable at all. School buildings are considered to be in particularly poor condition in Tavoush and Sjunik marzes. Throughout the region, functioning nursery schools are very rare. Aside from the damage to or destruction of physical infrastructure, a number of other problems impede access to education. Qualified teachers are required for most of the schools; however, given the poor housing conditions in the area, few teachers are willing to live in the region. Pupils suffer from a lack of textbooks and other school supplies. Moreover, when it rains heavily, a number of the (dirt) roads are washed out and become impassable, making transportation very difficult. Under such conditions, which prevailed on the day of the Representative's visit, children are unable to attend school - as indeed was the case that day. The impact of the conflict on education has been devastating. The mayor of one village, lamenting that "children are lost in such conditions", explained that in the 10 years since the war, not a single child from the village had gone on to higher education, whereas 8-10 children routinely had done so during the pre-war (and Soviet) period. (Paragraph 29)
   
• Data collection: As a first step, detailed data must be collected on the situation of internal displacement - information which at present is sorely lacking. In particular, there is a need for a determination of the number of internally displaced persons, disaggregated data on their gender, age and socio-economic profile, a mapping of their location in the country, and an assessment of their current needs as well as intention to return to their home regions or resettle elsewhere. Gaining an accurate picture of the number, location and conditions of internally displaced persons in the country is a prerequisite for designing programmes to address their needs. (Paragraph 51)

Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, Margaret Sekaggya

(A/HRC/16/44/Add.2)

Country visit: 12 to 18 June 2010
Report published: 23 December 2010

• Impunity for abuses against defenders: Mariam Sukhudian, an environmental activist and whistle-blower who reported on instances of sexual abuse committed against children in a boarding school, was initially charged with perjury, later downgraded to slander. The attention of the investigation and prosecution focused initially mainly on Ms. Sukhudian, instead of the alleged perpetrator of the abuses. According to the information provided by the Government after the visit, the criminal pursuit against Ms. Sukhudian was terminated. Moreover, a criminal case was initiated on the acts of child abuse against a former teacher in the boarding school who has been convicted and sentenced to two years of imprisonment. (para 100)

Working Group on arbitrary detention
Country visit: 6-15 September 2010

Full report not available. The press release indicated that the working group would address the matter of juveniles in detention.