On November 20, acting Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan, who is in Strasbourg on a working visit, met with Dunja Mijatović, Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe.

The interlocutors touched upon the agreements reached during the visit of the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights to Armenia in September and noted with satisfaction that regular meetings provide a good opportunity to discuss developments in human rights sphere in Armenia, the cooperation within the mandate of the Commissioner's Office and prospects of the joint programs.

The agenda of the meeting also included issues related to the reform process in Armenia, legislative changes and human rights monitoring.

While presenting the snap parliamentary elections in Armenia, acting Foreign Minister underscored that the organizing and conducting fair and free elections in line with international standards is an important priority for the Armenian authorities.

Acting Foreign Minister and Human Rights Commissioner also touched upon the efforts of the international community towards the prevention of genocide and crimes against humanity. In that context, acting Minister Mnatsakanyan highlighted the importance of the early genocide prevention mechanism.

The interlocutors focused on the efforts aimed at jointly addressing challenges of strengthening democracy in Europe and the improving the efficiency of the Council of Europe activities. With this regard, both sides expressed their conviction that human rights are universal and cooperation on their protection should be universal, without any exception.

Zohrab Mnatsakanyan briefed his vis-à-vis on the approaches of Armenia towards the peaceful settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict. Acting Foreign Minister emphasized that, first of all, Nagorno Karabakh conflict concerns people whose rights and security are important priorities.