Armenia`s human rights defender raises problem of suicides

ArmInfo. Protecting the rights of persons deprived of their liberty is one of the important activities of the Human Rights Defender as a national preventive mechanism. This is stated in a message from the Ombudsman's office.

According to the source, as part of this activity, during the year, representatives of the Ombudsman made monitoring visits to police stations, pre-trial detention centers and a number of other closed institutions.  Problems and proposals for solving them were regularly raised, which were presented to the competent government bodies, and also summarized in the annual report of the national preventive mechanism.

In this context, the Human Rights Defender, among other things, noted the problems associated with the prevention of self-harm and suicide. There is a perception among health professionals that there is no mechanism for assessing the risks of suicide or self-harm. Given the above, it is necessary to establish appropriate structures to assess the risk of suicide or self-harm of a person deprived of his liberty. It is also important to provide training to police officers on how to properly respond to incidents of suicide or self- harm, including taking the necessary steps to prevent it. The Ombudsman considers it necessary to organize periodic training for medical service employees to develop skills in providing primary care.