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Artsakh's Human Rights Ombudsman Gegham Stepanyan extended congratulations on Labor Day celebrated on May 1. The ombudsman’s message reads:

"Dear compatriots,

Congratulations to all of us on May 1, Labor Day. Diligence, work, and respect for the working person are among our unique national features, which we must always maintain in order to strengthen our families and the state.

Labor Day is an opportunity to raise the problems faced by working people in Artsakh, as the exercise of labor rights and fair working conditions are essential for the harmonization of public relations, the strengthening of social justice and the sustainable development of the state.

There are sufficient legal guarantees for the protection of labor rights in Artsakh, but in a number of cases, labor rights violations have been reported and continue to occur, which could have been ruled out if the participants in the labor relations were sufficiently aware of labor protection mechanisms.

In 2020, The Human Rights Ombudsman received 75 applications related to labor rights, which mainly referred to the groundless termination of the employment contract, reduction of posts without a legal basis, non-provision of final settlement, imposition of disciplinary sanctions without following the procedure established by law. Due to the socio-economic situation and the scarcity of vacancies, as well as the insufficient labor market, workers often had to come to terms with the fact that their labor rights were being violated.

The situation is aggravated by the Azeri aggression unleashed against the people of Artsakh in the fall of 2020. Thousands of Artsakh workers from the territories occupied by Azerbaijan were deprived of the opportunity to exercise their labor rights, our compatriots working in the field of agriculture were deprived of their dignified employment.

In such conditions, greater efforts are required to improve the labor market and provide society with decent work.

Congratulating again on this day, I wish that with our daily work we will be able to stand up and develop our homeland and build a competitive state, ensuring modern methods and standards of work organization and protection of workers' rights."