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The Role of the Institution of Ombudsman in Strengthening the Protection of Human Rights and Freedoms in Armenia, Moldova and Ukraine

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The Role of the Institution of Ombudsman in Strengthening the Protection of Human Rights and Freedoms in Armenia, Moldova and Ukraine Awarded Theses 2016/2017 Marianna Chobanyan The Role of the Institution of Ombudsman in Strengthening the Protection of Human Rights and Freedoms in Armenia, Moldova and Ukraine CES, The Master’s Programme in Human Rights and Democratisation in the Caucasus MARIANNA CHOBANYAN THE ROLE OF THE INSTITUTION OF OMBUDSMAN IN STRENGTHENING THE PROTECTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS IN ARMENIA, MOLDOVA AND UKRAINE MARIANNA CHOBANYAN BIOGRAPHY Marianna Chobanyan holds a BA in International Relations (Belarusian State University), a MA in History of International Relations and Foreign Policy (Belarusian State University) and MA in European Studies (Human Rights and Democratization) from Yerevan State University ABSTRACT «Օմբուդսմենի հաստատության դերը մարդու իրավունքների ու ազատությունների պաշտպանության ամրապնդման մեջ Հայաստանում, Մոլդովայում և Ուկրաինայում» «Роль института омбудсмана в укреплении защиты прав и свобод человека в Армении, Молдове и Украине» “The Role of the Institution of Ombudsman in Strengthening the Protection of Human Rights and Freedoms in Armenia, Moldova and Ukraine” Today the ombudsman institution is widely and actively used in state systems of protection of human rights and freedoms from arbitrariness of public authorities and from abuse of power by state officials. The world experience of the emergence and development of this institution demonstrates that it is an effective instrument of a democratic state tending to respect the rule of law. The main role of the ombudsman institution is to control the balance between the legislative, executive and judicial branches of power, observe the lawfulness of public authorities’ activities as well as protect the violated rights and interests of people because of action (inaction) of government bodies and officials. The master’s thesis aims to assess the role of the ombudsman institution in the three countries of the Eastern Partnership (EaP) which are Armenia, Moldova and Ukraine. These countries were chosen since they share the common historic legacy after the collapse of the Soviet Union and all three countries have undergone a long way of transition towards democracy. 2 HUMAN RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS IN ARMENIA, MOLDOVA AND UKRAINE The master’s thesis is divided into three chapters: in the first chapter the emergence and evolution of the ombudsman institution in the world and within the post-Soviet space is described; the second chapter elaborates on the comparative study of the National Laws which established the ombudsman institution in the respective countries and covers the issues of ombudsman’s appointment and dismissal as well as his/her competence; the final chapter is dedicated to the assessment of ombudsman’s role (its effectiveness) in the protection of human rights and freedoms through the elaboration of appropriate criteria and indicators. The research component of the paper will focus on qualitative measures such as public opinion surveys regarding the general awareness of the societies about the institution and its role in protecting and promoting human rights and freedoms in the respective countries. Finally, the author will come up with evaluative conclusions and practical recommendations to all countries of the present research. 3 MARIANNA CHOBANYAN TABLE OF ABBREVIATIONS EaP Eastern Partnership ENOC European Network of National Human Rights Institutions as well as European Network of Ombudspersons for Children EU European Union ICC International Coordinating Committee of National Human Rights Institutions for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights ICRC International Committee of the Red Cross NGO Non-governmental organization NHRI National Human Rights Institution NPM National Preventive Mechanism OHCHR Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights OSCE Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe UN United Nations UNDP United Nations Development Programme UNHCR United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees USAID United States Agency for International Development 4 HUMAN RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS IN ARMENIA, MOLDOVA AND UKRAINE TABLE OF CONTENTS 7 Introduction 10 1. The definition of the ombudsman institution, its emergence and evolution in the world and within the transformation of the post- Soviet space 31 2. Comparative analysis of the ombudsman institution in Armenia, Moldova and Ukraine 31 2.1 The establishment of the ombudsman institution 31 2.1.1 Armenia 34 2.1.2 Moldova 36 2.1.3 Ukraine 39 2.1.4 Conclusions 39 2.2 The election, appointment and dismissal of ombudsman from the post 39 2.2.1 Armenia 40 2.2.2 Moldova 43 2.2.3 Ukraine 45 2.2.4 Conclusions 46 2.3 The competence of ombudsman 46 2.3.1 Armenia 49 2.3.2 Moldova 53 2.3.3 Ukraine 57 2.3.4 Conclusions 59 3. The effectiveness of the ombudsman institution, challenges and prospects 59 3.1 Armenia 66 3.2 Moldova 73 3.3 Ukraine 78 Conclusions and recommendations 83 Bibliography 86 Annexes 5 HUMAN RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS IN ARMENIA, MOLDOVA AND UKRAINE 1. INTRODUCTION Recently, international law has been increasingly focusing on the protection and promotion of human rights and freedoms. The primary reason for such a tendency is a set of historical circumstances. The problem of human rights protection has always existed, but it began to spread in the era of Yalta-Potsdam system of international relations (after the Second World War) and further developed at the beginning of the 21st century. In the history of human civilization, there were thousands of local conflicts, two world wars and millions of broken destinies due to dramatic human rights violations, the prevention of which could have not only saved lives for many people but also contributed to the further economic development of all humankind. What is worse is that human rights are violated in the most outrageous way even nowadays in a civilized world tending towards the elimination of all forms of human rights violation. In this regard, the world community in order to minimize human sufferings and uphold human dignity turned to an idea of establishing NHRI in the widely accepted form of ombudsman with the aim of human rights protection and promotion all over the world. The states one by one began to establish human rights institutions as a necessary element in the process of democratization. Nowadays these institutions are inalienable elements of the national legislatures of many countries all over the world. The topic of the master’s thesis is very relevant as far as the countries of the post-Soviet space are concerned. The creation of the ombudsman institution in fourteen post-Soviet countries is a new element within the respective state legislative systems, which aim to protect human rights and freedoms. The emergence of this new institution in the post-Soviet 7 MARIANNA CHOBANYAN space was due to political and social changes that have occurred over twenty years ago. The relevance of the topic is also justified by the following reasons: 1. the significance of human rights protection and promotion in the post- Soviet space which has undergone the long and contradictory way of political and socio-economic transformation; 2. the demand to research the ombudsman institution in the post-Soviet space which can be considered as a “Western” or “Scandinavian import” (based on the three country cases); 3. 3) the necessity to review the functioning of these institutions in the respective countries of the present study. The study aims to analyze and assess the role of the ombudsman institution in three countries of the post-Soviet region that are currently the members of the EaP – Armenia, Moldova, and Ukraine. The countries have been chosen in such a way so as to represent ethnic and geographic sub-divisions of the post-Soviet space. In this regard, Armenia was chosen as a representative of the South Caucasus sub-region, Moldova - as a representative of the Romance people in Southeast Europe and Ukraine - as the East Slavic country in Eastern Europe. The objectives of the paper are as follows: 1. to explain the reasons for an emergence of the institution of ombudsman in the world and in the post-Soviet space as well as to describe the process of its evolution and its current stance; 2. to describe the system and context in which the ombudsman institution operates in three countries; 3. to identify similarities and differences between the three institutions in the respective countries; 4. to assess the role of the ombudsman in protecting and promoting human rights in the respective countries; 5. to identify the key challenges and prospects of the functioning of the institution of ombudsman in all three cases; The guiding research questions include as follows: 1. How the ombudsman in three countries is elected, appointed and dismissed? 8 HUMAN RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS IN ARMENIA, MOLDOVA AND UKRAINE 2. Is the process of ombudsman’s appointment transparent and comprehensive? 3. Should the system of election/appointment be changed? Should the civil society (human rights NGOs, etc.) have a word? 4. What is the role of human rights ombudsmen in Armenia, Moldova, and Ukraine in the protection of human rights and freedoms? 5. Is this role positive? If yes, what are the outcomes and outputs in the respective countries? The examples of the ombudsmanship, which are used in this paper, are taken from the three countries practices because their achievements and problems were quite common due to their authoritarian past. To evaluate the role of the ombudsman in the respective post-Soviet countries the following sources in English, Russian, Ukrainian and Polish were used: legal sources including international treaties, academic literature, annual reports by the ombudsmen, mass media and the Internet sources along with papers, speeches, interviews and press releases by the ombudsmen in the respective countries. The hypothesis of the master’s thesis is as follows: the ombudsman institution plays a positive role in the protection of human rights and freedoms. Further, this hypothesis will be tested through the following research methods: historical analysis, secondary research, legal analysis, comparison, online surveys, observations, reviews.
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