STATEMENT BY THE CHAIR OF THE DELEGATION, MEP Rebecca HARMS
on the human rights situation of the LGBTI community in Armenia
Brussels, 12 April 2019 - “On 5 April, a transgender woman, Ms Lilit Martirosyan, addressed the Standing Committee on the Protection of Human Rights and Public Affairs of the National Assembly of Armenia, in the framework of the National Human Rights Agenda: United Nations Universal Periodic Review. To our deep regret, her poignant intervention was answered by disparaging or even aggressive comments.
Unfortunately, this incident is not an isolated case, in Armenia and in the region as a whole.
We express our concern about the perceptible rise in hate speech or threats targeting human rights and LGBTI activists in Armenia. Such pitfalls are all the more unacceptable as they go against the word and spirit of the EU-Armenia Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement (CEPA), whose Article 3 calls on the strengthening of the rights of people belonging to minorities. It is also worth noting that the European Parliament, in its resolution of 4 July 2018 on the conclusion of the CEPA, explicitly underlined that the protection of vulnerable groups such as the LGBTI community was of paramount importance for the future relations between the EU and Armenia.
As a consequence, we call on the Armenian authorities to meet their commitments by effectively protecting human rights, including those of the LGBTI community, and to promote an environment of human dignity, free from hate speech.”
