Statement by Mr. Aram Hakobyan, Counsellor of the Permanent Mission of Armenia to the UN at the UNGA78 Third Committee General Discussion on Advancement of Women

03 October, 2023

Mr. Chair,

As this is the first time the delegation of Armenia takes the floor, we take the opportunity to wish you and the Bureau most of success during this Session of the Committee.

Armenia is of the view that advancement of women is key in tackling the world’s global challenges across all pillars of the UN.

Policymaking in Armenia has a special focus on the protection and promotion of women’s rights, achieving gender equality, including through gender-responsive regulations to ensure empowerment of women and their full, equal and meaningful participation in all spheres of public life.

More than the third of MPs in the Armenian Parliament are women, which is a major milestone towards empowerment of women in political sphere.

The Government of Armenia pays particular attention to the economic empowerment of women and closely cooperates with UN agencies to implement tailor-made projects assisting women and girls throughout the country, and especially in rural areas, to get actively involved in economic activities. Moreover, Armenia has continuously registered a high percentage in participation of women in the ICT sector of about 40%.

Throughout the four years of its membership in the UN Commission on the Status of Women, Armenia made its utmost to contribute to the work of the Commission, including through its Chairmanship of CSW at its 64^th and 65^th Sessions. In line with its efforts to contribute to the advancement of women globally, Armenia reaffirms its strong support to the forward-looking commitments contained in the Political Declaration and the Agreed Conclusions of the Commission.

Armenia similarly prioritizes the advancement of Women and Peace and Security agenda both globally and nationally. The Second National Action Plan of Armenia on the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 is underway, which will contribute to the promotion of the role of women in conflict prevention, peacebuilding and peacemaking.

Mr. Chair,

The recent developments in our region have had a particularly disproportionate impact on vulnerable groups, including women and girls, as crises and humanitarian catastrophes so often do. On 19 September, Azerbaijan launched an all-out attack against the civilian population of Nagorno-Karabakh. The attack resulted in the deaths of many civilians, including women and children. The military aggression of Azerbaijan was part of its policy of ethnic cleansing of Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh. Within days of Azerbaijan’s military aggression, more than 100.000 persons were forcibly displaced and took refuge in Armenia. The vast majority of the displaced are women, children and elderly.

The displacement of the Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh creates new and unforeseen humanitarian challenges that will impact the efforts of advancing and empowering women in Armenia. The newly arrived displaced persons must be provided with livelihoods, including accommodation, employment, social, health and educational services, and that is the top priority of the Government.

Prior to the attack the indigenous Armenian people of Nagorno-Karabakh faced a medieval siege for 10 months, living under conditions of malnutrition, lack of medicine, electricity, natural gas.

For months, Armenia called for a safe and unhindered humanitarian access of the UN agencies to Nagorno-Karabakh for comprehensive assessment of the needs of the population, including women and children who are most vulnerable in conflict settings. Azerbaijan hampered the humanitarian access of the UN agencies to Nagorno-Karabakh up until its full depopulation and now tries to manipulate UN’s recent engagement.

Mr. Chair,

Armenia calls for a more substantial and proactive UN engagement in any situation where the rights and security of women and of all vulnerable groups are at risk so that the international community would be able to save lives and not mourn the victims of atrocity crimes when it’s already too late.

Thank you.

MFA RA
official website

Dual citizenship

Electronic visa

Visa applications