Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly-Vanadzor

At 2:30 PM on November 15 the Media Contests on A Public Glimpse into a Closed World: “The Situation of Human Rights in Closed Institutions” and “The State of the Right to be Free from Ill-treatment” will be summarized and the winners will be announced.  

The contest is held within “A Public Glimpse into a Closed World: The Situation of Human Rights in Closed Institutions of Armenia” project funded by the European Union (EU) and co-funded by the Open Society Foundations – Armenia, implemented by Public Journalism Club  NGO (PJC) and Investigative Journalists NGO  (IJ). 

The contest of journalistic materials on the state of the enjoyment of the absolute right to be free from torture and other cruel inhuman treatment or punishment was announced within the framework of “Combatting torture and ill-treatment in Georgia, Armenia and Ukraine” project, which is funded by the European Union and jointly implemented by Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly Vanadzor and The Georgian Centre for Psychosocial and Medical Rehabilitation of Torture Victims (GCRT).

Awards ceremony of two contests will be held on November 15, 2019 at 14:30 AM at the Marriott Hotel, Ararat Hall (1 Amiryan St.,), with the participation of Ambassadors Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary accredited in Armenia, representatives of civil society, the journalistic community, international organizations’ and government agencies’ representatives. 

In the framework of the two contests, around 90 articles were reviewed, of which the respected and independent Jury selected the best. 

Contest nominations were: 

• The best investigative material
• The best feature/human history
• The best TV show
• The best TV Report
• The best radio material / podcast 
• The best online material
• The best multimedia material
• The best photo story

A special category was established for former/current inmates who do journalistic writing, to give those who are facing/have faced human rights related issues in penitentiary institutions a chance to voice those and to promote systemic changes. 

At the awards ceremony, 17 journalist works will receive awards. Several encouraging prizes from international organizations and government agencies will be delivered.

Journalistic material contests were launched in February 2019 to boost media coverage of closed institutions, special care institutions, mental health centers, special schools and army of Armenia, as well as the state of the implementation of the absolute right to be free from torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, to draw attention to human rights issues in the aforementioned spheres and to promote quality of the media coverage of human rights issues.

The awards will be preceded by "Challenges and Reforms: Human Rights in Closed Institutions” Conference. 

For additional information, please contact us via telephone at (0322) 72268 or e-mail at communication@hcav.am. 

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This material has been produced with the assistance of the European Union. Its contents are the sole responsibility of HCA Vanadzor and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.