Armenia: US State Department Human Rights Report 2007

The US State Department issued its annual Human Rights Report for 2007(http://www.state.gov/) today, March 11, 2008.

Although concerning Armenia (http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2007/100546.htm) the report is limited to last year, and does not include the most recent developments, the report's findings are significant:

WASHINGTON, March 11, 2008 -- Armenia's record on human rights remained poor during 2007, according to the U.S. State Department's annual report on human rights around the world. First, the document said, parliamentary elections last spring didn't meet world standards. The report, issued today, also says security forces sometimes beat those they had arrested, and some arrests were made arbitrarily. The government also imposed restrictions on privacy, religious expression, the news media and freedom of assembly, the document says. Meanwhile, the report says, the Armenian government didn't enforce laws against violence against women, human trafficking and harassment of homosexuals.

R. G.