ARMENIAN HIGH COURT APPROVES OPTIONAL

UNCLAS YEREVAN 002546 SIPDIS SENSITIVE DEPT FOR EUR/CACEN, DRL, IO/UN E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PHUM PREL KOCI AM SUBJECT: ARMENIAN HIGH COURT APPROVES OPTIONAL PROTOCOL ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD (SBU) Sensitive but unclassified. Please protect accordingly. On November 23, the Armenian Constitutional Court approved the GOAM's signing of the "Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution, and child pornography." The treaty now moves to the National Assembly for final ratification. According to local UNICEF officer Naira Avetisyan, the National Assembly hopes to ratify this and the Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflicts by year's end. Avetesyan stated that the National Assembly would not need to change Armenian law in order to comply with either protocol. She explained that "The Law on Child Rights," passed in 1996, closely mirrors the "Convention on the Rights of the Child" because the Soviet Union was a signatory to the convention and the Armenian law was modeled on Soviet law. EVANS