Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly-Vanadzor

HCA Vanadzor, jointly with the public observers’ group conducting observation in organizations providing treatment and care services to persons with mental health problems, developed recommendations and on 20 May 2020, presented them to the RA Ministry of Health. The recommendations were not accepted on the ground that the regulations envisaged by the Draft stem from the Draft law on making an amendment to the RA Law “On psychiatric aid”, adopted upon the second reading by the National Assembly. 

We assess improper the reasoning provided by the RA Ministry of Health, as no content-based conclusion was given on the provided recommendations. We can record that the Ministry manifested inaction in terms of properly going through the presented recommendations.

Regulations of the Draft presented by the RA Government in the procedure of RA National Assembly legislative initiative continue to be problematic and contradict the legal positions recorded by RA Constitutional Court decision No. DCC-1504 made on 30.01.2020.

Reinstating the presented recommendations, we exhort the RA Ministry of Health and NA MPs to make changes to the Draft, which would be aimed at the effective protection of the child’s right to physical and mental inviolability. 

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