Opening remarks by H.E. Mr. Mher Margaryan, Permanent Representative of Armenia to the UN, at the Panel Discussion "Prevention of Atrocity Crimes in the Digital Era"

28 April, 2023

Excellences, colleagues, dear friends,

It is my pleasure to welcome you to the panel discussion organized by the Permanent Mission of Armenia to the UN, which will seek to address the role of technologies in the prevention of genocides and mass atrocities. Despite continuous efforts of the international community to prevent atrocity crimes and to fight impunity for those who commit them, sadly, such acts of extreme cruelty continue to persist and to be perpetrated, in various parts of the world.

Symbolically, April is a month that is linked with quite a few significant dates in the history of genocide, beginning with the systematic killings of the Armenian, Greek and Christian Assyrian populations in the Ottoman Empire. The pre-planned, state-sponsored massacres, which culminated in April 1915, resulted in the extermination of one and a half million Armenians, prompting the prominent Polish lawyer of Jewish descent, Raphael Lemkin, to coin the term “genocide”.

It was precisely in the historical context of the systematic campaign of violence against the Armenians that the modern term “crimes against humanity” appeared, used officially for the first time by the Allied Powers in their Joint Declaration in May 1915, which represents the origin of the use of the term as the label for a category of international crime. The Report of the United Nations War Crimes Commission of 1948 not only contains details of the Armenian Genocide, but also uses the events of 1915 as a historic example of categories of “crimes against humanity” and a precedent to the Nuremberg Tribunals. In 1985, the Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights adopted the report on the question of the prevention and punishment of the crime of genocide (prepared by B. Whitaker), which confirmed that the massacres of the Armenians in 1915 meet the criteria for the United Nations definition of genocide, as one of the genocides of the 20th century.

It has been said too many times before that the civilized world failed to stop the Armenian Genocide, largely due to the lack of preventive mechanisms at the time. A century later, however, the ability of the international community to properly identify and react to such situations remained considerably challenged, as demonstrated by the UN’s tragic failure to prevent the genocide in Rwanda.

There is a range of detectable warning signs, which precede genocides. Those, as we all know, are not events that happen overnight – they are long-term social and political processes that begin long before the actual killings. Hate speech, racism, discrimination and dehumanizing public discourse are among the clearly detectable red flags, which, if left unaddressed, can lead to systematic violence that targets a group of people because of who they are. This is particularly relevant for societies, where policies of racism and discrimination are cultivated by the state.

In our own region, we continue to be faced with a dangerously mounting level of genocidal ideology, which has already caused devastating wars in Nagorno-Karabakh, with systematic incitement of anti-Armenian hatred and culminating with unchecked, barbaric violence and mass atrocities against ethnic Armenians. Such was the case with the state-sponsored massacres of the Armenian population in Sumgait and Baku back in 1988 and 1990, when violent mobs attacked innocent civilians on the streets and in their apartments in response to the peaceful, democratic demands of the Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh. In a similar vein, decades of incessant hate speech and dehumanizing rhetoric instigated massive demonstrations in the streets of Azerbaijan, with thousands of people chanting “death to Armenians.” These were shortly followed by Azerbaijan launching massive military attacks amidst an unprecedented global pandemic in 2020, in gross violation of international humanitarian law and with numerous verified cases of atrocities.

Two and a half years into the establishment of the ceasefire in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone, the UN and its humanitarian agencies are yet to render the much needed assistance for a population of 120.000 people who have been made hostage to an inhumane blockade that has essentially disrupted the only lifeline connecting Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia and the outer world. Not only has the Lachin Corridor continued to remain disrupted for over 4 months now, but, as of earlier this week, an Azerbaijani checkpoint was installed in stark violation of the previous commitments, as well as in contradiction to the Order of the International Court of Justice indicating a provisional measure, according to which Azerbaijan shall “take all measures at its disposal to ensure unimpeded movement of persons, vehicles and cargo along the Lachin Corridor in both directions”. This recent Order issued by the ICJ on 22 February 2023 adds to the earlier measures indicated by the Court back in 2021.

To this date, Azerbaijan has failed to implement the Court’s legally binding Orders, engaging, instead, in manipulative distortions and misinterpretations, while instrumentalizing the issue of the Armenian POWs and civilian captives, denying UNESCO’s access to the cultural heritage sites and inflicting a medieval, barbaric siege on the population of Nagorno-Karabakh. By now, it should be absolutely clear that Azerbaijan’s actions are indicative of premeditated, carefully planned and executed efforts that demonstrate an intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national and ethnic group as such.

Colleagues, dear friends,

This year marks the 75th anniversary of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. As we reflect on the challenges of the genocide prevention agenda, we are reminded that, more often than not, it is the lack of accountability and perpetuation of impunity for previous crimes that breeds more violations. In this context, one of the important processes that is currently underway within the United Nations is the elaboration of a universally accepted treaty on preventing and punishing crimes against humanity and we welcome the recent progress achieved in this regard.

Armenia has been historically leading international efforts to underpin the significance of the Genocide Convention, including through a number of resolutions that we have initiated in the UN Human Rights Council and in the UN General Assembly, including, most notably, GA Resolution 69/323, which established the International Day of Commemoration and Dignity of Genocide Victims. Since 2015, Armenia has been hosting the Global Forum Against the Crime of Genocide – a thematic international platform, which regularly brings together scholars, practitioners and other stakeholders to deliberate methods of prevention. The role of digital tools and technologies in the context of genocide prevention was the focus of the latest meeting of the Forum, which took place in December 2022 discussed the risks and challenges stemming from misuse of new technologies, including social platforms, in the context of genocide prevention and countering hate speech, as well as the role of digital tools for the protection of cultural heritage. Today’s event will build on the deliberations of the Yerevan Global forum and will seek to take the conversation further.

I am very glad that today we are joined by Ms. Alice Wairimu Nderitu, the Special Adviser of the Secretary-General on the Prevention of Genocide, whom I would like to thank for her efforts and leadership in driving the genocide prevention agenda forward.

I now have the honour to introduce today’s distinguished panelists:

Elisa von Joeden-Forgey, Endowed Chair in Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Keene State College; Co-founder of Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention
Henry Theriault, Associate Vice-President for Academic Affairs at Worcester State University
Lori Khatchadourian,Associate Professor, Departments of Near Eastern Studies and Anthropology, Cornell University, and Co-Director of Caucasus Heritage Watch

I would like to express appreciation to Elisa von Joeden-Forgey for acting as a moderator of today’s discussion.

To conclude, I would like to thank all present in this room today, as well as those joining us online, as the event is being livestreamed through the UN Web TV. I am also grateful to my team at the Permanent Mission of Armenia for their efforts in organizing today’s event.

With this, I now have the pleasure to invite the Special Adviser Nderitu to deliver her address.

I thank you.

MFA RA
official website

Dual citizenship

Electronic visa

Visa applications