Statement by Mr. Mher Margaryan Chargé d’affaires of Armenia at the Security Council Open Debate: “Upholding international law within the context of the maintenance of international peace and security”

17 May, 2018

Mr. President,

Armenia expresses its appreciation to the Polish Presidency of the Security Council for initiating the present debate and for providing with an interesting and targeted concept note. The presence of H.E. Mr. Andrej Duda, the President of the Republic of Poland and his presiding of the Council’s debate earlier today underscores the high importance of the agenda item under discussion. We also thank the Chef de Cabinet of the Secretary-General and honorable Judges of International Court of Justice and International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals for their comprehensive briefings.

The meeting is an invitation also to discuss on how to advance peaceful settlement of conflicts based on the tenets of international law while addressing complex challenges stemming from violations of international humanitarian law and human rights law.

Armenia believes that norms and principles of international law should be upheld in their entirety to remain relevant and crucial for preservation of international peace and security. Each conflict and crisis is unique in terms of its essence, root causes and principles of resolution and attempts to create one-size-fit-all approaches ignore the specificities of particular conflicts and are counterproductive.

Mr. President,

Equal rights and self-determination of peoples is a fundamental principle enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations. The right to self-determination by way of freely determining their political status and freely pursuing their economic, social and cultural development is attributed to all peoples and is embedded also in both the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights.

The adherence to international humanitarian law and human rights law should be consistently promoted in the context of the prevention of conflicts and of massive and serious violations, which result in war crimes, crimes against humanity and the heinous crime of genocide.

Prevention requires both early action and early warning. Denial of past crimes, including the crime of genocide, impunity, discrimination against particular vulnerable groups, prevalence of expression of hate speech are amongst the precipitating factors leading to massive crimes and conflict and represent explicit and detectable early warning signs. The international community should be sufficiently equipped to detect such early warning signs and address them.

We are well aware that crimes went unpunished are prone for recurrence. Hence it is imperative that the International community has vigorously pursued fight against impunity and denialism. Within the United Nations, Armenia has been leading the campaign to reinforce the implementation of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
This year marks the 70th anniversary of the Genocide Convention which is yet another milestone to reaffirm our collective determination to fight impunity for the crime of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity and to recommit to the cooperation among nations thus contributing to the promotion of international peace and security.
The International Day of Commemoration and Dignity of the Victims of the Crime of Genocide and of the Prevention of this Crime on 9 December continues to be an important platform to support such deliberations and to take the conversation forward.

Mr. President,

As a supporter of the concept of regional engagement, Armenia has been consistently promoting the efficiency and the role of regional mechanisms, including for the maintenance of peace and security. We resolutely reject some deflecting attempts of forum shopping and arbitrary interpretations of the international law. We emphasize that there can be no hierarchy in international law and the very right to self-determination may not be restricted, suspended or turned into an issue of territorial dispute

The principle of the right of peoples to self-determination is a binding and universally recognized fundamental norm of international law for all states with no exception, and its implementation derives from international obligations assumed by the states.
Armenia highly appreciates the continued support of the UN system and the Secretary General to the internationally agreed format of negotiations for the peaceful resolution of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs.
The approaches of the international community visa-versa Nagorno Karabakh conflict are well reflected in the statements and proposals of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs.

Mr. President,

A failure to commit to the peaceful resolution of the conflict, on the basis of norms and principles of international law and within internationally agreed mandates manifests deliberate attempt to obstruct and derail the peace process.

Armenia will continue to deliver on its commitment in upholding the norms and principles of the international law and together with the Minsk Group co-chairs will continue working towards peaceful resolution of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

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