In 2025, Rights Centre NGO implemented the project “From Training to Impact: Enhancing Report Submission Skills for Armenian NGOs,” which aimed to strengthen the capacity of Armenian civil society organizations to prepare and submit high-quality human rights reports to international mechanisms, including the Council of Europe, the Universal Periodic Review, and the UN treaty bodies. The project included trainings, mentoring and submissions of the alternative reports on human rights issues.
Within this framework the Rights Centre NGO in cooperation with members of Juremonia Platform- Social Justice NGO and Civil Society Institute submitted an alternative report to the UN Committee against Torture in response to Armenia’s 5th periodic report for the 68th Session of the Committee Against Torture (CAT) on 10 March 2025. In its concluding observations adopted in April 2025, CAT took into account most of the recommendations submitted in an alternative report. (Report is available here: Alternative Report to the UN Committee against Torture on Armenia’s Implementation of the Convention against Torture )
The alternative report identified a number of structural challenges. These challenges include, in particular, the following:
- Legislative prohibition of torture, inhuman and degrading treatment
Article 450 of the RA Criminal Code criminalizes torture, but inhuman or degrading treatment is not addressed. People deprived of liberty may face inhuman treatment, for example, when essential medication is withheld, even if no official is at fault. Such omissions violate the state’s positive obligations․
Fundamental legal safeguards
Detained persons often lack fundamental safeguards from the start of their detention, including prompt access to a doctor and notification of detention. In Police temporary detention facility (TDFs), medical exams occur only if injuries are visible or health complaints are reported. In National Security Service TDFs, exams are performed only when officers notice illness or injuries, but their limited medical training raises concerns. Medical confidentiality is frequently violated, as exams are conducted in the presence of officers and personal data is recorded by TDF staff, sometimes with altered or incomplete records.
Effective investigation
Effective investigation of torture and ill-treatment cases remains a concern. According to the RA Prosecutor’s Office, 340 cases were investigated in 2022 (90 closed, 1 referred to court) and 507 in 2023 (106 closed, 5 referred to court). After the Special Investigation Service was dissolved in 2021, jurisdiction over torture cases initially moved to the National Security Service, and then, following civil society advocacy, to the Investigative Committee in May 2022. However, the Committee lacks the institutional independence and impartiality needed for effective investigations.
- Redress, including compensation and rehabilitation
Armenia has no state-funded centers providing holistic rehabilitation for victims of torture. Although the 2023–2025 National Action Plan foresees such centers in Yerevan and three regions, no progress has been made.
CAT Concluding Observations are available here:CAT_CO