The Republic of Armenia’s commitments and respect for the basic values of the Council of Europe and the problem of the death penalty

Abstract

The purpose of this Master’s Essay is to examine the problem of abolition of the death penalty in Armenia. Part I deals mainly with arguments in favor of and against the death penalty, with the subsequent conclusion that those in support of abolition of the death penalty are more well-founded and supported by the statistical data, as well as more exactly reflect that type of society that member states of the Council of Europe are trying to build and consolidate. Also, some brief excursus is made into the past to show how the Council of Europe came to recognize that the death penalty is a violation of fundamental human rights. Part II discusses the problem of abolition of the death penalty in Armenia, as well as the main reasons why the ratification of Protocol No. 6 to the European Convention on Human Rights is still held up in Armenia by means of examining, in main, the contents of reports prepared by the Parliamentary Assembly’s Committee on the Honoring of Obligations and Commitments by Member States of the Council of Europe during its visits to Armenia in 2001 and 2002.