The institution of the Ombudsman of Armenia is well-established, and long-standing human rights defenders have played a major role in helping the institution become well-established in the country. This is what Armenia’s former justice minister Artak Zeynalyan declared during a conference dedicated to the 15th anniversary of the institution of the Human Rights Defender of Armenia in the National Assembly.

According to him, this institution functions more effectively when the government isn’t highly focused on the institution. “Armenia has created all the favorable conditions for the operation of human rights organizations. Of course, those organizations can’t operate without funding, and this is why I suggest that political minorities create budgets and provide such organizations with funding so that they can conduct monitoring, release reports and more,” he said, asking the deputies to support through law-making and implement the idea that he had proposed.