UN counterparts highly appreciate achievements of the Government of Armenia in criminal justice sector, reaffirming the UN's willingness to support implementation of sector-specific reforms

Within the scope of the Thirty-first session of the United Nations Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (CCPCJ) being held in Vienna from May 16 to 20, a special event devoted to the achievements and challenges of crime prevention and criminal justice in Armenia was held.

Within the scope of the event, Deputy Minister of Justice Arpine Sargsyan delivered a separate report. Sargsyan presented the reforms in the criminal justice sector in Armenia, particularly the key institutions that are being introduced under the new Criminal Code and the Criminal Procedure Code, which are based on rights-based approaches. It was informed that the draft of the new Penitentiary Code, which makes the chain of reforms in the criminal justice sector complete, has also been adopted by the National Assembly in the first reading. The Deputy Minister emphasised that objective monitoring plays a major role in the implementation of reforms, noting that Armenia is willing to monitor the situation that is being created after the reforms and will continue to take steps to reform the criminal justice system.

The UN counterparts highly appreciated the achievements of the Government of Armenia in the criminal justice sector, reaffirming the willingness of the UN to contribute to the implementation of sector-specific reforms. During the event, police reforms were also touched upon, and the UN Development Programme (UNDP) also provided active support during the implementation of those reforms.

The event was held under the chairmanship of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Armenia to the Republic of Austria; Permanent Representative of the Republic of Armenia to the UN Office in Vienna and other international organisations Armen Papikyan; Resident Coordinator at United Nations, Armenia Lila Pieters Yahia and United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Regional Representative to Central Asia Ashita Mittal.