Armenia’s Contribution to the 51st Session of the UN Human Rights Council

10 October, 2022

The 51st Session of the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) took place in Geneva from 13 September to 7 October 2022. The interactive dialogues and panel discussions of the 51st Session of the HRC focused on the key issues on the Council’s agenda, such as truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence, arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances and the use of mercenaries. The Council also addressed such topics as the unilateral coercive measures, the issues of the promotion and protection of the rights of older persons, indigenous peoples, the right to safe drinking water and sanitation, hazardous substances and wastes. A number of interactive dialogues were held on the country-specific human rights situations.

In his capacity of the Vice-President of the HRC, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Armenia to the UN Office and other international organizations in Geneva, Ambassador Andranik Hovhannisyan presided over a number of the HRC meetings, as well as participated in the decision-making and implementation on the organizational and procedural matters of the HRC Bureau.

The delegation of Armenia delivered 38 statements and rights of reply in its national capacity.

The Permanent Mission of Armenia addressed most of the substantive issues of the HRC session and presented Armenia’s priorities in the field of human rights, as well as Armenia’s dedication and commitment to democratic values and their enhancement in our country.

During the relevant interactive dialogues of the Session, Armenia presented the Azerbaijan's aggression along the Armenian-Azerbaijani border in September 2022, encroachment on Armenia's territorial integrity, targeting of towns, villages and numerous civilian infrastructures. Armenia presented the facts of gross violations of international human rights and international humanitarian law, as well as the war crimes committed by Azerbaijan in Artsakh and in the bordering regions of Armenia. The instances of the extrajudicial executions, missing persons, prisoners-of-war, destruction and annihilation of the cultural and religious monuments, as well as obstruction of the humanitarian access for international organizations by Azerbaijan were presented to the Council. It was stressed that Azerbaijan ignores the decisions of the international courts taken in this regard, as well as the clear-cut communications of the UN Special Procedures. The Permanent Mission of Armenia also presented the cases of racial discrimination and xenophobia carried out by Azerbaijan, as well as the human right violations in Azerbaijan.

On October 4 during the General Debate entitled “Racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related forms of intolerance: follow-up to and implementation of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action” held in the course of the 51st Session of the Human Rights Council (HRC) in Geneva, Armenia delivered the Joint Statement on digital technologies and hate speech. This initiative of Armenia was co-sponsored by 42 States from all UN regional groups.

The Statement underscores that while digital technologies, including artificial intelligence, present increasing opportunities and benefits, however their design, development, deployment and misuse might also entail risks to fundamental rights, democracy and the rule of law. A deep concern was expressed on the increase in online hate speech and harassment.

At the 51st Session of the HRC Armenia co-sponsored a number of important resolutions, including on the mandate of the Working Group on arbitrary detention, on the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous Peoples, on the mandate of the Independent Expert on the rights of older persons, on the rights of young people, on national human rights institutions, on international cooperation to support national mechanisms for implementation, reporting an follow-up, on transitional justice, on the fight against terrorism, on local government, on new and emerging technologies etc.

Armenia, together with the core group of countries consisting of Argentina, Fiji, Norway, Pakistan and South Africa authored the resolution on the Strengthening of the Voluntary Funds for the Universal Periodic Review Mechanism of the HRC, which was adopted by consensus. The resolution was co-sponsored by more than seven dozen countries. During the Session Armenia aligned with 7 Joint statements. Armenia also circulated 3 Note Verbales as official UN documents that addressed the Nagorno Karabakh conflict. The Human Rights Defender of the Republic of Armenia, as well as a number of non-governmental organizations delivered statements pertaining to Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh issue at the HRC session. Armenia's membership at the Human Rights Council ends in December 2022.

The next, 51st Session of the UN Human Rights Council will start in February 2023.

Information on Armenia’s participation in the preceding HRC Sessions, as well as the statements delivered by the Permanent Mission of Armenia are available online at the following website: https://switzerland.mfa.am/en/news.

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