Human right activist proposed using the resource of social groups

Human right activist proposed using the resource of social groups

09-02-2008 14:29:56 – KarabakhOpen

`In this unstable world peace and stability in entire regions depend on
the degree of development of the civil society. Unfortunately, over the
past 14 years since the cease-fire the stances of the sides of the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict have not come closer. In addition, hostile
rhetoric has intensified on both sides, there is no mutual confidence,’
said human rights activist, director of the Center for Civil
Initiatives Albert Voskanyan in an interview with Karabakh-Open.com.

Recently the Karabakh human rights activist has participated in the
conference on the South Caucasian conflicts in the Armenian resort
Tsaghkadzor, in which diplomats, experts, representatives of NGOs and
media of Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Russia and several European
countries participated.

Albert Voskanyan says in order to transform the perception of the
conflict and put the public onto a constructive path, it is necessary
to reject information which distorts the essence of conflicts, not to
use the situation for propaganda. `It is necessary to teach tolerance
to people step by step, reject destructive and in fact unreal ways of
resolution of conflicts,’ said Albert Voskanyan. In this context, he
says it is necessary to use the resource of the social groups which
suffered from the conflict most ` families of killed soldiers,
refugees, disabled people and veterans of war. `They possess immense
potential for peace building, for the people who have experienced the
horror and hardship of war feel the need for a peace settlement more
acutely,’ Albert Voskanyan says.

During the conference the South Caucasian conflicts regional security,
boosted military budgets of the South Caucasian states, and their
impact on stability and democratization in the South Caucasian
societies were discussed.