On December 6 the students of the Center for European Studies had a visit to the UN office in Armenia. Among the hosts there were the UN Resident Coordinator in Armenia Shombi Sharp, UNICEF Representative in Armenia Tanja Radocaj and Deputy UNDP Resident Representative Mihaela Stojkoska. At the beginning of the meeting Mr Shombi Sharp greeted the students and expressed his interest both in the research the students do and in the MA programmes of the Center. The Child Rights coordinator/researcher Mariam Muradyan presented the Center and its programmes.
The meeting was followed by a panel discussion. The UNICEF representative highlighted the issues and considerations on child rights in Armenia. Tanja Radocaj mentioned the importance of child participation, accessibility and participation rights of disabled children as well as social protection issues in Armenia.
Mihaela Stokovska emphasizes the diversity of development projects in Armenia. She mentioned the importance of research and need base approach. She touched upon the development efforts of UN throughout Armenia.
The students addressed many questions among them those concerning cyber bullying, rights of disabled children, development programmes for those in earthquake area in Armenia and many others.
The UNDP representative Maria Malkhasyan also added about development programme and the research needs. She highlighted the need of human rights centers and their importance to work with the human rights practiioners.
There were initial arrangements concerning the internship possibilities for the CES students and research contributions of the Center to the UN work.