A/HRC/29/11 Introduction 1. The Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review, established in accordance with Human Rights Council resolution 5/1 of 18 June 2007, held its twenty-first session from 19 to 30 January 2015. The review of Armenia was held at the 8th meeting on 22 January 2015. The delegation of Armenia was headed by Ashot Hovakimian, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs. At its 14th meeting, held on 27 January 2015, the Working Group adopted the report on Armenia. 2. On 13 January 2015, the Human Rights Council selected the following group of rapporteurs (troika) to facilitate the review of Armenia: El Salvador, Indonesia and Nigeria. 3. In accordance with paragraph 15 of the annex to resolution 5/1 and paragraph 5 of the annex to resolution 16/21, the following documents were issued for the review of Armenia: (a) A national report submitted/written presentation made in accordance with paragraph 15 (a) (A/HRC/WG.6/21/ARM/1); (b) A compilation prepared by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in accordance with paragraph 15 (b) (A/HRC/WG.6/21/ARM/2); (c) A summary prepared by OHCHR in accordance with paragraph 15 (c) (A/HRC/WG.6/21/ARM/3 and A/HRC/WG.6/21/ARM/3/Corr.1). 4. A list of questions prepared in advance by Azerbaijan, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland was transmitted to Armenia through the troika. The questions are available on the extranet of the universal periodic review (UPR). I. Summary of the proceedings of the review process A. Presentation by the State under review 5. The head of the delegation affirmed the support of Armenia for the UPR process and underlined the importance of sharing best practices. He thanked all the Governments that had submitted written questions, which his delegation would address during the review. 6. The national report of Armenia outlined the key areas of reform related to human rights and the main challenges and obstacles in their implementation. The recommendations from the first cycle had received the Government’s close attention. Legislative and practical measures had been adopted to implement them. Armenia had submitted a mid-term report on their implementation and was among the countries that had accepted the highest number of recommendations in the first cycle. It appreciated and stressed the interest of civil society in the process and believed that a stronger human rights system could result only from increased synergies between the State and civil society. Civil society development had commenced from the first days of independence in Armenia and it had been particularly active in the past decade. Many organizations were contributing in specialist fields and carrying out studies. 7. He described the main achievements of Armenia since the first UPR, commencing with the 2012–2016 Strategic Programme for Legal and Judicial Reforms. Its wide-ranging activities related to judicial, penitentiary and criminal legislation; the decriminalization of 3