As ARMENPRESS was informed from the press service of the MFA Armenia, Deputy FM Grigoryan particularly said,
“Dear Colleagues,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I welcome you at the virtual discussion organized by the Permanent Mission of Armenia to the United Nations and the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect in observance of the International Day of Commemoration and Dignity of the Victims of the Crime of Genocide and of the Prevention of this Crime.
Established upon Armenia’s initiative in 2015, the International Day of 9 December has since served as an inclusive platform that brings together governments, international organizations, academic community and civil society to deliberate methods of delivering on the pledge “Never again”.
Armenia, as a nation which has survived the Genocide, has been an advocate for the fight against this crime on the international arena for many years and has been consistently outlining the importance of strengthening capacities at national, regional and international levels to detect and act on the warning signs, which may lead to massive crimes.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Among the tools for genocide prevention, education is the single most powerful instrument, relevant as ever, in particular, against the backdrop of a disturbing surge in tendencies of disinformation, incendiary rhetoric and hate speech.
On December 9-11, 2018, Armenia hosted the 3rd Global Forum “Against the Crime of Genocide”, dedicated to prevention of genocide through education, culture and museums. One of the most important goals of this forum were to study the issues of genocide prevention through education and science, to raise awareness on the challenges of genocide education and to discuss steps to be undertaken and effective methods to address those challenges.
The importance of teaching out past genocides was also underlined in the resolution on the Prevention of Genocide presented by Armenia and unanimously adopted by the Human Rights Council in June 2020. The resolution emphasizes the necessity to preserve evidence and archival material related to past genocides, reflects the developments related to this issue in the modern world and is in line with the priorities set by the UN. Thus, referring to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, the document emphasizes that its fourth goal should be achieved through teaching about the genocides committed in the past.
Ladies and gentlemen,
One of the main reasons that leads to genocide, as well as other crimes against humanity, is impunity. Inappropriate condemnation of past crimes and avoiding of punishment create fertile ground for denial and justification of genocide and eventually at recurrences of mass atrocities.
Armenian people has a long-standing record of confronting what represents the final stage of a genocidal process – denial of genocide, manifesting itself in many ways, primarily, through narratives that conceal historical evidence and the scale of the genocidal effort, embark on legalistic manipulations, blame the victims, trivialize their sufferings, defend and even glorify the perpetrators, and, in doing so, strive to create a space which will intimidate and silence the survivors across generations.
The denialists stop at...
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