For Immediate Release
October 3, 2016
Contact: forum@pf-armenia.org
Web: http://www.pf-armenia.org

The anti-regime protests of the past 18 months in Armenia were accompanied by excessive use of police force, widespread crackdown on civil and opposition leaders, and declining standards of legal due process, with discretionary use of pre-trial detention. The ensuing police brutality, unseen since the events of March 2008, and a growing number of political prisoners will have long-lasting implications for Armenia both internally and abroad and provide a poor backdrop for the international investment forum scheduled for October 10 in New York City.

To raise the international community’s awareness of Armenia’s deteriorating human rights conditions and discuss approaches to preventing the country’s slide into a police state, Policy Forum Armenia (PFA) will hold a panel discussion on October 13, 2016. The participants—senior practitioners and academics from George Washington University Law School, Human Rights Watch, National Endowment for Democracy, American Bar Association, and the United States Agency for International Development—will assess the trends and current conditions on the ground in areas of human right and the rule of law and discuss potential policy actions going forward.

More details are available via PFA website.

Policy Forum Armenia is an independent non-profit association aimed at strengthening discourse on Armenia's economic development and national security and through that helping to shape public policy in Armenia.