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.