The consequences of the aggressive war unleashed by Azerbaijan against Artsakh have not been overcome to this day, Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan said at the 4th Global Forum Against the Crime of Genocide.
Moreover, he said, in May and November last year and on September 13-14 this year, the sovereign territory of Armenia was attacked by Azerbaijan, resulting in gross violations of human rights and international humanitarian law, including the right to life, prohibition of torture, property, treatment of Prisoners of War.
“The Armenian people faced new security threats which have not been addressed to this day. This situation is an outcome of a lengthy process, when the spread of extreme hatred towards Armenians, the consistent development of military capabilities turned into the use of force,” the Foreign Ministry said.
He emphasized that the approach of dealing with foreign policy issues through the use of force, which is manifested by the outbreak of new wars and conflicts in different parts of the world, indicates the crisis of the global security system.
“Without universal norms of peaceful coexistence and international law, without red lines that are not amenable to double standards, the world cannot regain peace and development. It is also obvious that after the current crisis of multilateralism, we need to reassess international relations and find a new consensus for the coexistence of peoples. Today, it might be difficult to predict all the elements of that international consensus but apparently, the inadmissibility of genocides and ethnic cleansing, religious and national discrimination and hatred, as well as their prevention, the protection of human rights, including collective rights, should become one of the pillars of that consensus,” Minizter Mirzoyan said.
He stressed that both an individual person and a nation have the right to life, security, in the truest sense of the word, to live safely, and to control their own destiny, and no one, no power can deprive them of these collective and natural rights.
“During the last two decades, the international community, represented by the United Nations, has done a great work to create new capacities and mechanisms for the prevention of genocide,” Ararat Mirzoyan said.
“One of the important steps to ensure the prevention of genocide has become the establishment of the position and the Office of the Special Adviser to the UN Secretary General on this matter in 2004, which has gained a great experience over the years and many of the documents developed by the Special Adviser have become genocide prevention guidelines for the UN member states. We are grateful to Madame Alice Wairimu Nderitu for her participation in this conference and for her continued cooperation,” he added. .
Speaking about the structures involved in the genocide prevention, he emphasized that the UN Human Rights Council plays a major role in this matter.
“The 21st century and the development of information technologies could not fail to affect the Genocide Prevention agenda. Today, we evidence the occurrence of both new challenges and new instruments for the advancement of genocide prevention agenda. Within the framework of the work of this forum, I invite all of you to discuss effective mechanisms to fight against the abuse of current new instruments, as well as to harness their advantages,” the Armenian FM said.
