Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan attended the event dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the Office of the Human Rights Defender. The President of the Republic Vahagn Khachaturyan, President of the National Assembly Alen Simonyan, MPs, members of executive, judicial bodies, representatives of international organizations were also present at the event.
In his speech, the Prime Minister congratulated on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the institute of Human Rights Defender and emphasized its importance. According to Nikol Pashinyan, the institute of Human Rights Defender is an institution in complex coordinates, because usually the opposition has its own idea about Human Rights Defender, which have peculiarities and characteristics, the government has its ideas about Human Rights Defender, which also usually have peculiarities and characteristics, and the public has its ideas about Human Rights Defender, which have peculiarities and features. "But I want to emphasize that the independence of the HRD institution is extremely important for the Government. I will also answer the question why it is important, because I said a little while ago that sometimes there are nuances here.
I must record that the independence of that institution cannot be unimportant for the government guided by democracy for a simple reason that sometimes the Government, the ruling team, the executive bodies, various bodies may not notice many subtleties, simply underestimating many subtleties amid official agendas. Many things can be simply not seen, because there is the impression that the government has the ability and desire to control everyone and everywhere, but in reality it is not so," said the Prime Minister, adding that the government sometimes needs to receive signals from other independent sources about the results and consequences of its activities, especially when it comes to human rights, freedoms, justice, legality, issues that are on the Government's primary agenda, issues the promotion of which led the government to winning the elections twice.
According to the Prime Minister, it is important how the course of implementing these obligations and reforms takes place. "In this regard, my Government and I talk a lot about the need for standards.
I must emphasize that I do not know how euphonic it may sound, but it is also very important to have two standards of rights and justice, because rights must have a standard, justice must also have a standard. And when I say that the attitude of the citizens towards various state institutions is obvious, but the attitude towards the activity of the Human Rights Defender greatly differs.
But it is very important that we have such a standard of rights that we can also explain it to people. We must not forget that we finally started dealing with human rights after the collapse of the Soviet Union, as a result of gaining independence, when an entire generation grew up with, if not in the absence, rights, at least severe curtailment of rights. And when, as a result of the collapse, law and democracy appeared in the primary position, in many cases legitimacy was forgotten from the position of law itself. In many cases obligation has been forgotten from the position of right itself, because once people had obligations and not rights, it seems that the result of this change is that you have rights and no obligations. And it should not be condemned in the sense that this is in some way a natural response to a crisis. You have no rights and only responsibilities. Then it turns out to be wrong. Therefore, the opposite of wrong is right, that you have rights and no responsibilities," Nikol Pashinyan noted, adding that the standard of law and justice is a very important tool that so far has not been made a reality.
According to the Prime Minister, the institute of Human Rights Defender, its independence, is one of the important intersections where this process should take place, where, after all, we should have a standard of law so that we can not be confused, including not using legality to deprive people of their rights. "I didn't want to say for limiting people's rights, because the right itself also includes a certain limitation that is about the rights of others.
Therefore, I attach great importance to the fact that we celebrate the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the Human Rights Defender's institution not just as a birthday, but with such a conference, where, of course, I am sure that a significant part of the issues I mentioned will be discussed. And I am sure that this discussion will contribute to the further development of the institute of the Human Rights Defender in the Republic of Armenia," said Nikol Pashinyan.
