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Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Thorbjørn Jagland published his report on State of Democracy, Human Rights and the Rule of Law in Europe, 2015.
The Secretary General writes in his reports that democracy and security are threatened across the continent.

“Europe is currently struggling with many serious challenges, including terrorism, migration and conflict. This is being successfully exploited by nationalists and populists in many places, and trust in national and European institutions is dwindling,” says Thorbjørn Jagland.

In the very first line of his report, the Secretary General writes that; “The recent resumption of hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh has reminded us how swiftly frozen conflicts can thaw. Lasting peace has still not been secured in eastern Ukraine.”

At the same time, the Secretary General notes that there many important gaps in the laws and practices member states of the Council of Europe have in place, and basic human rights including free speech, freedom of assembly and the right to privacy are increasingly being restricted.

“This is not only wrong – it is also dangerous. If we don’t stand by our democratic principles and tackle our problems while fully respecting human rights then the situation will only get worse,” he writes.
The independence and impartiality of justice systems in Europe is a significant focus of the report, which highlights political interference, corruption and the non-enforcement of judicial decisions among the areas of concern.

The report also underlines that almost half of the 47 Council of Europe member states do not satisfactorily guarantee the safety of journalists, pointing out that the situation has deteriorated in the last year with an increase in physical attacks and the destruction of property.
The Secretary General addresses Armenia in the context of court proceedings, Constitutional reforms and social rights.

Thorbjørn Jagland notes that Armenia introduced broad reforms, criminalising attempts to influence a judge and introducing the obligation on judges to report all such attempts, however reports persist regarding the lack of independence of the judiciary in practice.

Concerning the report of the Commissioner for Human Rights following his visit to Armenia, the Secretary General state that it refers to examples of “interference by senior judicial instances in the work of lower-court judges”, as well as “from external actors such as the executive power at central and local levels (including law enforcement agencies)”.

Referring to the freedom of expression on the Internet, Thorbjørn Jagland, “The majority of Council of Europe member states do not provide any specific regulations on general monitoring of users’ activities on the Internet. Some countries have adopted policies that aim to strengthen control over online content, in order to prevent the dissemination of prohibited content (for example, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Republic of Moldova, Russian Federation, Turkey)”.

Concerning functioning of democratic institutions, The Secretary General notes, “In Armenia, the changes in the constitutional set-up introduced following the referendum of December 2015 will increase the role of parliament and may lead to a more inclusive political process. However, democratic culture and dialogue with civil society were still considered weak throughout this crucial reform process”.

In the reports he also addresses cases of discrimination, saying that; “A general rise in racism and intolerance has been observed in our member states. ECRI has noted that while many member states have comprehensive anti-discrimination legislation, significant gaps continue to exist. A number of countries, including Andorra, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Poland, San Marino, Slovenia, the Russian Federation and Turkey, lack an independent body with competence to deal with discrimination in both the public and the private sectors”.
The Secretary General also makes recommendations the implementation of which will solve the problems mentioned in the report.