The senior consultant of the Twinning program of the EU Antonio Mora has worked in the Ombudsman’s office for over a year now. He provides consulting in the sphere of human rights. Mora says that his main mission is to support the conformation of the Ombudsman’s Institute to European criteria.
– How do you estimate the current state of human rights and the role of the human rights in Armenia?
– Only the existence of the Ombudsman’s office is a sign that certain steps are being taken in the direction of human rights in Armenia. We can confidently say that the Ombudsman has an important role not only in the protection of human rights but also in the democratization of the country.
– What is the role of the EU experts in this process?
– First of all they offer their experience in contributing to the conformation of the Ombudsman’s institute to the European standards. The Human Rights Defender’s office has existed in France for over 40 and in Spain for 25 years. We are trying to share our experience with our Armenian colleagues to make our expertise more useful and applicable in Armenia.
– Can we speak about the results at this stage?
– At this point we have implemented one third of the program. Therefore, it is too soon to speak about concrete results. But as a result of this stage we can register the fact of experience exchange that we have been sharing during these past months. In the near future we are anticipating recommendations related to the activity of the Human Rights Defender and the RA legislative acts.