Armenia`s human rights defender raises problem of suicides

ArmInfo. Protecting the rights of persons deprived of their liberty is one of the important 

activities of the Human Rights Defender as a national preventive 

mechanism. This is stated in a message from the Ombudsman's office.

According to the source, as part of this activity, during the year, 

representatives of the Ombudsman made monitoring visits to police 

stations, pre-trial detention centers and a number of other closed 

institutions.  Problems and proposals for solving them were regularly 

raised, which were presented to the competent government bodies, and 

also summarized in the annual report of the national preventive 

mechanism.

In this context, the Human Rights Defender, among other things, noted 

the problems associated with the prevention of self-harm and suicide. 

There is a perception among health professionals that there is no 

mechanism for assessing the risks of suicide or self-harm. Given the 

above, it is necessary to establish appropriate structures to assess 

the risk of suicide or self-harm of a person deprived of his liberty. 

It is also important to provide training to police officers on how to 

properly respond to incidents of suicide or self- harm, including 

taking the necessary steps to prevent it. The Ombudsman considers it 

necessary to organize periodic training for medical service employees 

to develop skills in providing primary care.