The Human Rights House Yerevan and Coalition to Stop Violence against Women are concerned regarding the case of Mrs. Lara Aharonian, women human rights defender in Armenia.
On March 8, 2019, in the framework of the Civil Society-Parliament cooperation platform for gender equality and equal opportunities on the rights of women from all groups, Mrs. Aharonian made a speech about the rights of poor women, women with disabilities, single mothers, lesbian, trans and bisexual women, etc, which made her a target for further online attacks and hate speech. The hostile attitudes backed by discriminatory narratives and hate speech have included threats to kill and rape her and harm her family. It is the latest of a succession of attacks in recent months targeting human rights defenders, especially Mrs. Lara Aharonian, as she is a vocal women’s rights defender in Armenia and is fighting for gender equality and reproductive rights of women. She has been in the spot of the attacks since 2013 and the attacks against her and her family are currently ongoing.
The state is lacking its obligation to ensure a safe and enabling environment for human rights defenders and guarantee proper protection to human rights defenders, as a part of its responsibility to protect and promote human rights as stipulated by numerous international treaties, ratified by Armenia, including Universal Declaration of Human Rights, ICCPR (International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights) and specified by the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders (Declaration on the Right and Responsibility of Individuals, Groups and Organs of Society to Promote and Protect Universally Recognized Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms) adopted by the resolution of UN General Assembly. According to Article 12 of the above mentioned Declaration, “The State shall take all necessary measures to ensure the protection by the competent authorities of everyone, individually and in association with others, against any violence, threats, retaliation, de facto or de jure adverse discrimination, pressure or any other arbitrary action as a consequence of his or her legitimate exercise of his/her rights.” In her report on the situation of human rights defenders (A/HRC/25/55, 2013), the Special Rapporteur Margaret Sekaggya specifically focused on integrating a gender perspective into the State’s policies aimed at the protection of human rights defenders. She highlighted that women human rights defenders are more at risk of suffering certain types of violence and prejudice, particularly because women defenders are often perceived as challenging accepted socio-cultural norms, traditions, and stereotypes about femininity, sexual orientation, and the role and status of women in society. Importantly, in 2013 the UN adopted its landmark Resolution on Protecting Women Human Rights Defenders (A/RES/68/181, 2013). In Armenia, women human rights defenders are often subjected to these forms of violence and constantly work under the threat of both physical and verbal attacks organized and/or triggered by anti-human rights extremist groups.
On March 11, 2019, Mrs. Lara Aharonian reported the attacks and insults, hate speech to the Police of RA with a demand to investigate and punish those responsible for the attacks against her. However, the previous experiences of human rights defenders becoming a target for hate speech and reporting it to the Police, and the continuing attacks against those working in the field of human rights in Armenia show the urgency of taking decisive steps to ensure defenders’ safety. Regrettably, none of the hate speech cases reported to the Police by human rights defenders were legally identified as such and nobody took responsibility for spreading hatred, and the inaction by the Police and other responsible state institutions only worsens this climate, because it gives the impression that violence against defenders will be tolerated and go unpunished.
Given this, and in light of the growing number of extremist groups who threaten and try to discredit human rights defenders, we need more protection, legal guarantees, and support from the Armenian Government for our effective functionality. We insist on the following:
- The Government of Armenia should ensure the effective functioning of the State Police regarding the proper investigation of hate speech, assault and attack cases against human rights defenders.
- The Government of Armenia should adopt an effective gender-sensitive policy aimed at the protection of human rights defenders with a clear gender perspective.
- The Government of Armenia should ensure that effective protection of and cooperation with the human rights defenders is a prioritized issue within the framework of the protection of human rights in Armenia.
- The Government of Armenia should act in the spirit of UN Resolution on Protecting Women Human Rights Defenders, acknowledge publicly the important and legitimate role of women human rights defenders in the promotion and protection of human rights, address structural discrimination and violence faced by women human rights defenders of all ages and groups and take all measures to ensure their protection. In addition, the Government of Armenia should adopt an awareness-raising policy and promote the legitimacy and the work of human rights defenders.
- The Government of Armenia should make amendments to acknowledge hate speech and hate crimes and include them to the Criminal Code.
Coalition to Stop Violence against Women
