45th Session of the UN Human Rights Council

12 October, 2020

45th Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council was held in Geneva from 14 September to 7 October.

A number of country-specific human rights situations, enforced disappearances, arbitrary detentions, the rights of indigenous peoples, right to development, slavery, environmental impacts on human rights, reprisals against human rights defenders, prevention of human rights violations, and other issues were at the core of the discussions held in the framework of the Session.

The HRC unanimously adopted the Third Report of the Universal Periodic Review of Armenia in the area of human rights during its 45th Session. Notably, Armenia has endorsed and already started successful implementation of well above 90% of 250 recommendations put forward by the States. It is an extremely high indicator. This fact as well as solid progress registered by Armenia after the Velvet Revolution of 2018 in the area of protection and promotion of human rights were welcomed and praised by a number of States representing all regional groups of the UN.

The Delegation of the Republic of Armenia delivered more than thirty statements. In particular, the efforts of the Armenian Government towards ensuring the resilient human rights protection systems in the times of pandemic have been presented. The discussions around the truth, justice, reparations and guarantees of non-recurrence, empowerment of women, fight against racism, xenophobia and other forms of discrimination were of special importance for Armenia across the topics discussed during this Session.

On numerous occasions Delegation of Armenia spoke about the devastating consequences, gross violations of fundamental principles of international humanitarian and human rights law that resulted from the aggression unleashed by Azerbaijan against the people of Artsakh on 27 September. Armenia elaborated on the persistent Government policy of hate towards Armenia and Armenians in Azerbaijan, gross violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms, reprisals towards dissidents and spreading corruption in international structures. Armenia drew the attention of the international community towards the interference of Turkey in Nagorno Karabakh issue, presented the transfers of international terrorist groups to the conflict zone. Armenian delegation highlighted that the aggressive policy of despotic authorities of Azerbaijan in hindering the rights of people of Artsakh to determine its future and live free in their homeland has been at the core of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict.

Armenia participated in negotiations on all 35 resolutions of the Session and co-sponsored the texts on the safety of journalists, protection of women and girls in humanitarian situations, rights of the child, HRC contribution to prevention of human rights violations, indigenous peoples and a number of other thematic resolutions. The principled positions of the Republic of Armenia on the prevention of genocides and crimes against humanity, protection of civilian population and infrastructure, freedom of speech and information, inadmissibility of violence against journalists and media workers have been voiced.

In the margins of the 45th Session of the HRC, Permanent Mission of Armenia to the UN Office in Geneva and other International Organizations in cooperation with the Delegation of the European Union and the “Aurora” Humanitarian Initiative organized an online panel discussion on the role and leadership of women in humanitarian emergencies. Prominent speakers, such as H.E. Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland and former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Leymah Gbowee, Nobel Peace Prize Winner, and Dr. Vartan Gregorian, President of the Carnegie Corporation of New York shaped the discussions. High-ranking representatives from UNHCR, ICRC and UNFPA shared their views and approaches. The webinar was moderated by H.E. Andranik Hovhannisyan, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Armenia.

Photo: UN Geneva Flickr

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