Study visit of the Greek Ombudsman to the Armenian Ombudsman Office and participation to International Conference, Yerevan, Armenia

A study visit of a Greek Ombudsman delegation (consisting of Ms. M. Karageorgou, Ms. A. Koutroumani, Mr. S. Stasinos) to the Human Rights Defender of the Republic of Armenia in Yerevan took place on 3-7 October 2007.

This visit was a follow-up to the study visit of an Armenian Ombudsman delegation in June 2007. The aim was to familiarise with the work and structure of the Armenian Ombudsman office and to provide an overview of best practices in complain handling and mediation as implemented by the Greek Ombudsman office. The delegation was welcomed and introduced to the staff by the Armenian Ombudsman Mr. Armen Harutyunyan.

Knowledge transfer and fruitful discussions were obtained during a staff seminar and numerous meetings with the departments of the Armenian Ombudsman office. Particularities of the respective mandates, day-to-day work and practices were analysed. Other topics of interest were relations with the judiciary, legislative proposals submitted by the Greek Ombudsman, the mandate to combat discrimination and promote the principle of equal treatment, issues of accessibility to prisons, environmental protection and social security.

On October 5 and 6, the delegation was invited to participate in the international conference "International experience of the Co-operation between Constitutional Courts and Ombudsmen in the field of ensuring and protecting Human Rights". The Greek Ombudsman, Mr. Yorgos Kaminis presented an intervention on the topic of the conference. Finally, the delegation met with the Greek Embassador in Armenia.