Armenia: integration to the Council of Europe and its political implications

Abstract

This study is a result of the Internship Policy Project conducted with the Department of International Relations of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia (RA). The purpose of this project was to study the integration of the RA to the Council of Europe, which is viewed as a two-fold process. Accordingly, the significance of the integration was treated as a dynamic process entailing substantial internal institutional transformations at the level of the domestic legislation. On the other hand, the integration of Armenia to such an influential organization as the Council of Europe has important political implications as a foreign policy achievement and enables Armenia to be represented in Europe on an equal footing with other states. The methodology included archival research, historical research as well as comparative analysis of the legal documents. The study has the exploratory objective with the major emphasis placed on the development of political cooperation between the NA the RA and PACE in the light of the balanced policy promoted by the CoE with the respect to entire Transcaucasian region. The policy effected in the institution of the trilateral interparliamentary cooperation of the Transcaucasian states under the auspices of the organization. Next, the study is focused on the domestic legal reform based on the requirements set forth by the CoE which provide the background for the important institutional transformations in Armenia and define the scope of the domestic policies to be implemented for meeting the requirements of the organization. It has been pointed to the need for the large-scale legal reform in order to correct the deficiencies of the domestic law and apparent inconsistencies identified between the latter and the legal treaties of the CoE. The major policies involve the improvement of laws that are currently in operation and the adoption of entirely new codes in the human rights field and judiciary, provided these are in compliance with the international norms and standards.