The House of Representatives of Uruguay yesterday unanimously approved a bill that declares April 24 as “National Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day,” reported the Diario Armeno, a Buenos Aires-based news outlet.
The law mandates that, on April 24 of each year, all state media must run programs, which “will be determined annually and on that day by the Executive Branch,” that highlight the Armenian Genocide.
The initiative was first approved by the Senate on May 7, and, once approved by the Executive Branch, will go into effect in the coming days.
The bill was presented by representatives Nazmi Camargo (Cabildo Abierto), María Eugenia Roselló (Colorado Party), Juan Martín Rodríguez (National Party), and Micaela Melgar (Frente Amplio).
Reprersentatives Pedro Jisdonian, Carlos Varela, Rafael Menéndez, Ivan Posada, María Eugenia Roselló, Felipe Algorta, Hugo Cámara, Ubaldo Aita, and Juan Martín Rodríguez participated in the parliamentary debate, arguing in favor of the new law.
As part of their remarks, several of the representatives denounced the way in which Turkey’s denialism and its impunity have fueled Azerbaijan’s crimes against Armenians in both Armenia and Artsakh in recent years, including the destruction of Armenian cultural heritage.
The bill, approved by both Chambers, is based on an initiative by Dr. Gustavo Vaneskahian of the Evangelical Harmony Church, which, after becoming public, received the support of different institutions within the Armenian community, including the Armenian Cause Council of Uruguay.
The approved bill establishes in its sole article that: “April 24 of each year is declared ‘Day of Remembrance of the Armenian Genocide,’ with the services of broadcasting audiovisual content of radio and open television, those of television for subscribers in their own signals and television signals established in Uruguay that are broadcast or distributed by audiovisual content dissemination services for subscribers licensed to operate in the country, integrate the official simultaneous transmission chain, which for this purpose will be determined annually and on that day the executive power.”