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Introduction





Asia

Europe and Central Asia

Middle East and North Africa

Special Issues and Campaigns

United States

Arms

Children’s Rights

Women’s Human Rights

Appendix




The Role of the International Community

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the Council of Europe
The OSCE did a commendable job in rapidly and efficiently mounting a large election observer delegation after elections were unexpectedly called in February. But the opposition and some international monitors harshly criticized the OSCE for failing to appoint a specialist with election monitoring experience to the key position of head of the March election monitoring mission.

Armenia’s 1996 application for full membership in the Council of Europe remained under review. Members of the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly issued an effusive statement on April 4 asserting the election’s legitimacy, but the OSCE’s final election report concluded that the elections failed to meet OSCE standards. Members of the Parliamentary Assembly acknowledged that the statement was based on limited observations by only two observers. As of this writing, Armenia’s application for  Council of Europe accession appeared stalled, primarily due to the failure to resolve the dispute with Azerbaijan over Nagorno Karabakh.

The United Nations
In March, the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination reviewed Armenia’s initial report. The Committee expressed concern about reported cases of torture and other degrading treatment by police and other investigating officers and about the government’s lack of commitment to keeping statistics on racially motivated crimes.

United States
Departing U.S. Ambassador Peter Thomsen stated that Armenia had made advances in democratic development, citing the increased liveliness of the press. However, Ambassador Thomsen failed to note that the government continues to control Armenia’s only newspaper printing press and that journalists do not feel free to cover a range of taboo subjects. The U.S. State Department’s Country Report on Human Rights Practices for 1997 on Armenia accurately described the government’s manipulation of the 1996 presidential election, the security forces’ serious abuses including the beating of detainees during arrest and detention, and that few newspapers are independent of patronage from political or economic interest groups.


Countries


Albania

Armenia

Azerbaijan

Republic of Belarus

Bosnia and Hercegovina

Bulgaria

Croatia

Czech Republic

Georgia

Greece

Hungary

Kazakstan

Kyrgyztan

Macedonia

Romania

The Russian Federation

Slovakia

Tajikistan

Turkey

Turkmenistan

United Kingdom

Uzbekistan

Federal Republic of Yugoslavia

Asylum Policy in Western Europe


Campaigns



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