RA Human Rights Defender Anahit Manasyan received the delegation of the Standing Committee on Foreign Relations of the House of Representatives of the Kingdom of the Netherlands on July 8. Chargé d’affaires of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Armenia Jacob Reichert Todor Frederiks also participated in the meeting.
As reported by the RA Human Rights Defender’s Office, Public Relations Department, welcoming the guests, Anahit Manasyan presented the scope of the Human Rights Defender’s powers, particularly emphasizing the protection of the rights of women, children, persons with disabilities, national minorities, civil and socio-economic rights, in the armed forces, within the framework of the criminal proceedings, the protection of the rights of individuals, the work carried out in the framework of the fight against hate speech, the atmosphere of intolerance, discrimination and in a number of other areas.
A special reference was made to the issues related to the protection of the rights of people forcibly displaced from Nagorno Karabakh, to the fact-finding activities carried out by the Human Rights Defender himself and his staff, which were summarized in an extraordinary report and presented to both local and international partners. In this context, Anahit Manasyan noted that he was actively involved in fact-finding activities from the first day, visited Kornidzor, Goris and Vaik with the staff, had private conversations with forcibly displaced persons, and worked even at night.
It is noted that the issues related to the protection of the rights of the residents of the border settlements of the Republic of Armenia were discussed, the necessity of guaranteeing human rights within the framework of all processes was emphasized.
“Anahit Manasyan emphasized the importance of ensuring the participation of target groups in all processes in the field of human rights protection. From this point of view, a special reference was made to the visits of children, members of the Children and Youth Rights Council of the Human Rights Defender, to Geneva and Bratislava, where the latter raised a number of issues related to their rights and presented their observations on them.
The interlocutors discussed issues related to the current challenges in the field of guaranteeing equality and anti-discrimination in our country. In this context, the Defender emphasized the impermissible volumes of the atmosphere of hate speech, discrimination, and intolerance in the Republic of Armenia today and the importance of the works being carried out in the framework of the fight against it. Reference was also made to the importance of guarantees for the realization of the right to freedom of assembly from the point of view of the formation of a proper system for the protection of human rights,” the message says.
According to the RA HRD staff, at the end of the meeting, the members of the delegation thanked for the reception and highlighted the role of the Defender in the implementation of the human rights protection mission.