On November 23 parliamentary hearings were held in the National Assembly, which initiated the NA Standing Committee on Defense, National Security and Internal Affairs. The main theme was “The Organization of Pre-Conscription Trainings and Conscription in the Republic of Armenia.” The NA deputies, representatives of the state departments, NGOs took part in the parliamentary hearings.

In his welcoming speech the Committee Chairman Koryun Nahapetyan has noted that the problems related with the conscription are of great interest for the public, particularly now, when the winter conscription of 2015 began. Mr Nahapetyan has underlined that the Committee focuses on the process of the youngsters’ pre-conscription trainings as one of the most important cornerstones of the rise of the military readiness of the armed forces, strengthening of discipline and improvement of other qualitative standards. In this issue he highlighted the organization of the effective teaching of the “Initial Military Training (IMT)” subject. In this context he informed that the Committee had visited a number of senior schools of Yerevan. Mr Nahapetyan has underscored that the works on the educational plan of the IMT subject and the improvement of its methodology, the logistics of pre-conscription trainings, the establishment and the upgrading of the senior military heads’ institute and the strengthening of the ties with the military units and military educational institutions will be continuous. It has been noted that the Committee emphasizes the procedure of holding the conscription and the reforms being made in that direction. In this context the Committee Chairman highlighted the positive progress being registered year by year in terms of transparency of the conscription transparency, reduction of the corruption risks and making it more controllable, as a result of which higher level of trust in the society is noticeable.

Mr Nahapetyan referred to the positive move in the sphere of the implementation of the conscripts’ preventive vaccinations, the servicemen’s treatment and the problem of those avoiding the conscript and other issues.

Koryun Nahapetyan highlighted the cooperation between all concerned departments and organizations in the solution of the problems regarding the sphere.

The Deputy Commander of the RA Armed Forces Movses Hakobyan, the RA Deputy Minister of Education and Science Manuk Mkrtchyan, the RA Deputy Minister of Healthcare Vahan Poghosyan, the RA Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Manassarian, the RA Deputy Human Rights Defender Armen Grigoryan, the RA Military Commissar Henrik Muradyan, the Chairman of Helsinki Citizens' Assembly Vanadzor Office Artur Sakunts delivered speeches on the matter under discussion and detailed the works being done and to be done concerning it.

The NA deputies and those responsible for the sphere through Q & A session touched upon the problems related to the efficiency of the works of the Central Medical Commission, the problem of the women’s and girls’ service in the army, the technical facilities of the IMT subject teaching and the organization of the practical courses, the use of the new approaches towards our compatriots living abroad and not serving in the army, the problems during Shant -2015 exercises, the expediency of the schoolchildren’s visit to the military units. During the discussions the participants talked about the problems of the sphere, the achievements and the further steps to be taken.

Summing up the work of the parliamentary hearings, Koryun Nahapetyan thanked the participants of the event for valuable reports and interpellations. In his word, in the course of the years the process of the conscription organization gets improved, nevertheless there are still problems in the sphere. The Committee Chairman has underlined that the reforms on organization the pre-conscription trainings and conscription should be continuous and directed to the rise of the efficiency of the process for completing the armed forces. In Mr Nahapetyan’s word, more coordinated work is necessary to carry out at inter-departmental level, use oversight effective mechanism in the conscription process. He has informed that Committee will sum up the work of the hearings, taking into consideration the reports, concerns and the ideas and will submit recommendations to the authorized bodies.