HRC 53: Item 3 – Interactive dialogue with Special Rapporteur on the Right to Education - Embassy of Armenia to Switzerland and Permanent Mission of Armenia to the UN office at Geneva

HRC 53: Item 3 – Interactive dialogue with Special Rapporteur on the Right to Education

27 June, 2023

Delivered by Ms. Nelli Petrosyan, Human Rights Officer

Mr. President,

Armenia welcomes the Special Rapporteur Ms. Farida Shaheed and thanks for the report.

We concur with the view that education should promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations and further the activities of the UN for the maintenance of peace. We agree that every learner has the right to physical, psychological and emotional safety and security in pursuing education.

Against this backdrop the Council of Europe ECRI has reported (and I quote) “about the presence of discriminatory language in school textbooks of Azerbaijan, particularly against Armenians, as had been also pointed out by the Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights and the CERD.” (end of quote) ECRI shared those grave concerns.

In this context, the 6 months long blockade of the Lachin Corridor by Azerbaijan continues to affect the safety, availability and accessibility of the right to education.

Moreover, the deliberate interruptions of the natural gas and electricity supplies by Azerbaijan and the increasing food shortages led to the closure of schools and kindergartens in Nagorno-Karabakh, depriving children from adequately exercising their right to education.

The UN Human Rights machinery should not fail these children.

I thank you.

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