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Human Rights Defender (Ombudsman) of the Republic of Artsakh Artak Beglaryan on October 1-2 had a number of meetings with some top officials of the Council of Europe (CoE) in Strasbourg.

He presented the situation of human rights protection in Artsakh, as well as, the issues and challenges derived from the conflict and unrecognized status, the Ombudsman's Office reported.

Beglaryan met, in particular, with Stefan Schennach, Chairperson of the PACE Committee on Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development. He introduced the situation and mechanisms of human rights protection in Artsakh, current issues, his official contacts with European organizations and perspectives of possible cooperation.

Taking into account that Mr. Schennach is also the PACE Co-Rapporteur on Azerbaijan, the ombudsman talked on the human rights violations and threats made by that country. He invited special attention on manifestations of the Armenophobia state policy in Azerbaijan, providing the rapporteur with the ombudsman reports on Armenophobia and atrocities done during the April war of 2016. He stressed that Armenophobia is a ground for human rights systemic violations of Armenians by Azerbaijan, which, meanwhile, is a serious threat to the security and human rights environment of the entire region.

Beglaryan met also with Killion Munyama, First Vice-Chairperson of the PACE Committee on Migration, Refugees and Displaced Persons, and Rapporteur on Internally Displaced Persons. He presented the issues of refugees and internally displaced persons living in Artsakh, considering the absolute ignoring of them by the international community as inadmissible.

The Artsakh ombudsman held meetings with some other PACE members and officials of independent bodies.

At all the meetings the Council of Europe officials demonstrated interests in the current situation and issues of the Artsakh people human rights protection, recognizing the urgent necessity of ensuring international engagement of unrecognized states.

Earlier on September 30, Beglaryan, with the initiative and support of the Armenian Delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, participated in the event on human rights protection in de facto states organized at the PACE, Strasbourg. He delivered a speech on the obstacles for human rights protection of the Artsakh people.