On December 4, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia delivered a video message at the mid-sessional meeting of the Human Rights Council dedicated to the 75th anniversary of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, the MFA reports.
The meeting was organized on the basis of the resolution authored by Armenia of the Human Rights Council.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk and UN Secretary General’s Special Adviser on Genocide Prevention, Alice Wairimu Nderitu, Deputy Secretary General, also made opening remarks at the event. High-ranking representatives of UN specialized bodies, speakers and well-known experts in the field acted as speakers.
Minister Mirzoyan’s speech is presented below.
“Your Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Armenia warmly welcomes the participants and speakers of the Intersessional Meeting on the Prevention of Genocide and expresses its gratitude to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights for organizing today’s meeting.
On December 9, we will celebrate the 75th anniversary of the adoption of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. Today, 153 UN member states are united in their commitment to punish and prevent this “crime of crimes.”
Indeed, the convention is a strong multilateral treaty to prevent crime. And it is not the only document. Today, the obligations arising from the convention have been reflected in the main directions in the resolutions of the Human Rights Council on the prevention of genocides.
In this context, I consider it extremely important that the resolutions on the prevention of genocide receive broad regional support and consensus in the Human Rights Council. It reflects a broader international consensus on the absolute imperative to prevent genocide by protecting the individual and collective rights of ethnic, religious, racial and national groups.
In this regard, the Human Rights Council is well positioned to be at the forefront of genocide prevention. We hope that coordination and cooperation between the Office of the Special Adviser of the Secretary General on Genocide Prevention, treaty bodies and special procedure mandate holders will be further strengthened and will become regulated.
I would like to take this opportunity to highlight the extensive work done by Special Adviser Alice Wairimu Nderitu.
your excellencies,
I have no doubt that the discussions of this meeting will once again show the importance of preventing mass crimes in the modern world. The world we live in today is a dangerous place for many ethnic and religious groups, and the intent to annihilate them in a given area has been demonstrated all over the world, especially now that international security arrangements and human rights mechanisms are continuously in decline.
The idea of eliminating the rights holder as a way to resolve conflicts has never been as “attractive” to criminals as it is today. Conflict situations provide a wide environment for criminals who, under the guise of another party to the conflict, demand from the international community equal treatment to be extended to victims.
Power inequality has always been a faithful feature of genocide. And by power, I did not mean exclusively the military advantage of criminals, but their ability to use new technologies to humiliate victims with disinformation, and to prepare the ground for deadly actions with their subsequent justifications.
The 4th Global Forum Against the Crime of Genocide, organized a year ago in Yerevan, considered the role of new technologies in the prevention of genocide from both positive and negative perspectives. The Yerevan Declaration adopted during the forum noted that the spread of misinformation, especially on social media platforms, can serve as a new propaganda tool to mislead and spread racism, intolerance, xenophobia, negative stereotypes, violate human rights, abuse and humiliate certain groups based on their identity.
Dear friends,
The execution of mass crimes, including genocides, continues to take considerable time in all its stages. In reality, collective punishment of targeted groups takes various forms and manifestations that gradually increase in severity, including violations of international human rights and international humanitarian law, destruction of vital infrastructure, sieges and mass violence. Needless to say, many mass atrocities could have been prevented if early warning signals had been detected at these stages.
Collective failure should not be an excuse for individual inaction by each UN member state.
Another important aspect of international responsibility is the international protection of victims, including forcibly displaced persons.
Two months ago, the Republic of Armenia provided shelter and means of livelihood to more than 100,000 refugees, the entire population of Nagorno-Karabakh, expelled from its homeland, subjected to ethnic cleansing. The support of the international community is essential to ensure their international protection.
your excellencies,
Decades ago, when Armenia assumed the responsibility of including human rights in the genocide prevention process, we were guided by our moral duty to the past. Today we see that it is not only about the past, but our joint efforts are directed towards the present and the future, a future of humanity free from the hatred, racism, xenophobia and intolerance that lead to mass crimes.
Despite all the failures of the international human rights and security system, we will continue to be actively involved in the Human Rights Council and other multilateral platforms to further develop tools and mechanisms to prevent genocides and other mass crimes.
Once again, I thank the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and High Commissioner Volker Türk for organizing this meeting, and I wish success to the speakers and participants.”
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