The Center for International and Comparative Law non-governmental human rights organization has presented a report to the UN Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers Margaret Satterthwaite. The Special Rapporteur organized an open call for inputs for her next thematic report on principles of judicial appointments. She invited Member States, national human rights institutions, and other relevant State institutions, international and regional organizations, bar associations, judicial councils, civil society, scholars, and other interested persons to provide written inputs.
In its written input the ICLaw Center has provided its observations concerning the procedures of the selection and the appointment of judges in Armenia.
The organization particularly touched the theme of the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC), noting that while the SJC is constitutionally designed as an independent gatekeeper for judicial careers, the organization finds that the parliamentary election of non-judicial members lacks transparency and competitive procedures. No announcements about open calls are being published, selection criteria, as well as reasoned decisions about the elected candidates are also not open to public view.
The report also highlights the qualification verification procedures mentioning that although the system includes written examinations and interviews, the legislation does not require publicly available scoring rubrics, transparent weighting criteria between evaluation stages, and reasoned decisions explaining why candidates are selected or rejected. This lack of transparency makes it impossible for candidates, observers, and the public to verify whether selections are genuinely merit-based or influenced by improper considerations.
The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in its 2025 monitoring materials have noted concerns about lack of justification for recommendations and appointments, raising doubts about whether selection is consistently merit-based in practice.
Some observations were also presented concerning the evaluation of the personal characteristics of the candidate, such as the judicial temperament, integrity, self-control, resilience to pressure. The submission also addresses limited public participation in appointment processes.
The Special Rapporteur will be presenting her final report at the 62nd session of the Human Rights Council in June 2026.