The EU-Armenia Civil Society Seminar on the Right to a Fair Trial and Independence of the Judiciary will be held in Yerevan on November 9-10, 2010 in Yerevan. The seminar, organized by the European Commission, will feature civil society actors from Armenia and the EU including human rights activists, litigants, and researchers; academics, members of professional legal organizations, legal practitioners, and others. The event will be held at the Golden Tulip Hotel and the opening and closing sessions will be at the winter garden (respectively at 9:00 on November 9, and 18:00 on November 10).

The aim of the EU-Armenia Civil Society Seminar is to contribute to the existing official EU-Armenia human rights dialogue by creating a space for constructive discussions between academics and members of civil society from both Armenia and the EU with the aim of feeding the agenda of the official human rights dialogue with their knowledge and views. The conclusions and recommendations of the seminar will be discussed during the subsequent session of the bilateral human rights dialogue between the EU and Armenia, which will be held in December 2010 in Brussels.

The EU-Armenia Civil Society Seminar will provide an opportunity for open discussions and recommendations for action regarding the implementation of the right to a fair trial and the principle of judicial independence with participants from Armenia and the EU. This EU-Armenia Civil Society Seminar on the Right to a Fair Trial and Independence of the Judiciary will discuss the problems and challenges of, as well as the strategies for better implementation of the right to a fair trial and ensuring the principle of judicial independence in Armenia, the Delegation of the European Union to Armenia reported.