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Armenia faces certain gaps in fulfilling its obligation under Convention on the Rights of the Child in areas, such as the juvenile justice system, Head of Child Protection division at the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) in Armenia Hayk Khemchyan told Panorama.am, wrapping up the organization’s three-year program on the improvement of the juvenile justice system in Armenia.

Reflecting on the existing problems, Khemchyan noted various organizations, state institutions were engaged in addressing the children’s justice sphere, yet the work lacked coordination among different stakeholders.

“Council for Juvenile Justice was established which is coordinated by the Justice ministry. UNICEF provides certain assistance to the work of the Council. Its main function is
to promote, consolidate and create through joint efforts in creation of efficient system for juvenile justice. The main outcome of that cooperation is the drafted action plan outlining the steps, the direction to proceed in meeting the instructions of the UN Children's Fund’s Committee,” Khemchyan said.
 
Among gaps existing in Armenia Khemchyan pointed out the lack of special courts, special legislation for children, alternative sentencing schemes, specialized division at the Prosecutor’s Office to deal with children, etc. Among steps realized Khemchyan noted that provisions for juveniles are incorporated into the existing legislation, specialized judges hear the cases related to children, yet regretfully those judges also hear other cases as well.
 
The UNICEF officer singled out the absence of the specialized system as one of the major gaps, adding the program provided the opportunity to fill that gap. With that regard he noted that the Justice Academy trains prosecutors, investigators as well as the Chamber of Advocates where certain courses are taught on juvenile justice.

Khemchyan also noted that Human Rights Defender’s Office established a specialized unit of Child Rights Protection in close cooperation with UNICEF that will further strengthen protection, monitoring and promotion of child rights in Armenia.

Deputy Justice minister Artur Hovhannisyan, present at the event, stated that concept of the affordable and accessible juvenile justice concept is very important and lays at the forefront of number of significant reforms and strategic programs in the overall justice system. The deputy minister informed draft strategy of combating juvenile crime is being drafted and will be put circulation soon.