With 71 votes “in favor”, the National Assembly of Armenia ratified the International Convention against the Recruitment, Use, Financing and Training of Mercenaries during today’s special session.

As Deputy Minister of Justice of Armenia Kristinne Grigoryan stated in her speech, currently, there are 36 States Parties to the Convention signed on December 4, 1989 at the United Nations General Assembly. According to the Convention, the States Parties shall not recruit, use, finance or train mercenaries and shall prohibit such activities.

Simultaneously, they shall not recruit, use, finance or train mercenaries for the purpose of opposing the legitimate exercise of the inalienable right of peoples to self-determination, as recognized by international law, and shall take, in conformity with international law, the appropriate measures to prevent the recruitment, use, financing or training of mercenaries for that purpose. They shall make the offences set forth in the present Convention punishable by appropriate penalties which take into account the grave nature of those offences.