“Court Monitoring and Fostering Legal Awareness for Active Citizenship in Syunik” project launched

Since June 2024, the “Helsinki Association” human rights NGO has initiated the participation of young people interested in human rights, fair trial issues, and monitoring of courts in the “Court Monitoring and Fostering Legal Awareness for Active Citizenship in Syunik” project.

The goal of the project is to utilize civil oversight of court proceedings to enhance the civic participation in Syunik region and functionality of judicial and law enforcement institutions in Armenia. In addition, the project will aim:

• To introduce law enforcement collaboration practices and human rights acknowledgment in the Syunik region, specifically in the cities of Kapan, Goris, and Meghri of Syunik region;
• To enhance the civic awareness of young individuals in Syunik region regarding human rights, fair trials, and anti-corruption and the functioning of courts; and
• To strengthen and build upon prior achievements the Syunik, Shirak, and Lori regions, and in Yerevan, by focusing on court monitoring, legal capacity building, experience exchange of the youth with judiciary and among the local groups aimed to uphold fundamental rights even further.

In the initial phase of the project implementation, the young people involved in the groups will participate in a thematic training course, acquiring knowledge and skills about the judicial system, fair trial, anti-corruption procedures, and other related rights and responsibilities.

Having completed a training course on the above topics, the young people included in the project will visit local courts of general jurisdiction of first instance under the guidance of an experienced judicialmonitor from the organization. During the months of July-September, they will observe court hearings in criminal cases, further developing their legal and practical knowledge and abilities in court monitoring.

At the end of the project, based on the results obtained through the court monitoring conducted by the young participants, proposals for judicial system reform will be developed. A comprehensive report will be compiled to present these findings and recommendations to relevant authorities and the general public.

The project is implemented within the framework of the “Resilient Syunik Team Europe” initiative, with financing from the Polish Development Cooperation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland and in cooperation with the Solidarity Fund PL.