On 4 July, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Armenia hosted a discussion on the Fifth Report of Armenia - submitted in accordance with the Council of Europe Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities - along with representatives of the 11 national minorities represented in the Council of National Minorities of the Republic of Armenia.

In her welcoming remarks, Karine Sujayan, Head of the Human Rights and Humanitarian Issues Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, touched upon the steps that Armenia is taking to ensure protection of the rights of national minorities according to the international documents on human rights protection and the special treaties related to national minorities. She attached importance to the institutional system ensuring protection of the rights of national minorities and particularly underscored the recreating of the Council of National Minorities that entered into force upon the decision of the Prime Minister of Armenia on May 3, 2019.

Armenia’s expert of the Advisory Committee for the Council of Europe Framework Convention on the Protection of National Minorities Arayik Navoyan took part to the discussion and presented the Committee’s activities for preparation of the reports by states and implementation of those reports in the future.

During the meeting, the representative of the Ministry of Justice presented the development process of the draft law of Armenia on national minorities, which was followed by a thorough discussion on the draft report and a question-and-answer session.

The Council of Europe Office in Yerevan assisted in organizing the meeting.