September 15, 2023

ELA is honored to be part of the first direct exchange of the Secretary General of the Council of Europe with civil society. Managed to raise a number of issues, including :

– the potential for stronger cooperation with CoE structures, such as the Venice Commission and the DG1 in the area of monitoring and standard-setting;

– need for closer cooperation between the CoE and the European civil society platforms in Armenia and to stand by these platforms that are experiencing difficult times nowadays;

– structure this cooperation in a way that will also benefit the forgotten people in Nagorno Karabagh who are experiencing dire humanitarian situations.

The Secretary General stressed the importance of CoE country offices in strengthening cooperation with civil society advocating for the Europeanisation of Armenia and protecting them. Reiterated her position on the need to immediately address the humanitarian situation in Nagorno Karabagh by implementing the interim measures of the European Court of Human Rights.