From 24 October to 03 December 2012, the EU Advisory Group will deliver a series of lectures to students from the Yerevan State University and American University of Armenia. The lecture series was launched at the Centre for European Studies of the Yerevan State University on 24 October 2012, ensued by the fact, that the Centre was the one and only research center in this field and it was quite symbolic that the beginning of the lectures started from the Centre.
The opening speech was delivered by Artur Ghazinyan, Director of the Centre for European Studies who sincerely thanked Mr. Jean-Christophe Gayrand, Head of Operations Section of the EU Delegation to Armenia and Mr. Willem van der Geest, Team Leader of the EU Advisory Group for providing students such considerable opportunity to participate in interactive discussions given by renowned international experts of the EU Advisory Group.
The lecture was devoted to the Human Rights field and the policy of the EU in this sector. Since Human rights is the corner stone and the forefront issue of the EU policy and the essential element for the relations between EU and non-EU countries, EU greatly signifies and gives much importance to the protection, promotion and spreading of HR in all over the world. Mr. Jean Gayrand also mentioned that the Human Rights Defender of Armenia was established by the assistance of EU Advisory Group and it has operated since 2003.
Mr. Willem van der Geest underlined the EU’s important role and its wide-range support in implementing reforms in Armenia and EU Advisory Group is one of the main tools to process them in Armenia. EU Advisory Group also highlighted the importance of those lectures, as today’s students would be tomorrow’s hope and performers to make prominent changes and to provide a better-founded platform for protection and respect of human rights in Armenia.
The first lecture of the series was delivered by Dalia Zukauskiene (Policy advisor on human rights). She delivered a Power Point Presentation on the National Human Rights Institution, starting from Ombudsman institute and the mechanisms of applying to the European court.