Permanent Rep to CoE expresses concern about cases of hatred propaga

Armenia’s permanent representative to Council of Europe expresses
concern about cases of hatred propaganda in some countries

16:32, 26 May, 2012

YEREVAN, MAY 26, ARMENPRESS: On 23 May 2012, the Ministers for Foreign
Affairs of the 47 member States of the Council of Europe held their
annual session in Strasbourg.

On this occasion, the representatives of the leading Organization for
the protection of human rights in Europe adopted a certain number of
measures aiming to secure the long term effectiveness of the
supervisory mechanism of the European Convention on Human Rights.
These measures follow on from the Conference held in April in Brighton
on this issue in the framework of the United Kingdom Chairmanship.

The Session also allowed the ministers and their representatives to
take stock of the policy of the Council of Europe towards neighboring
regions, which entered into force a year ago. Council of Europe action
to support democratic transition in countries of North Africa, the
Middle East and central Asia was encouraged. The participants also
expressed their determination to continue to develop this policy on
the basis of the values of the Council of Europe. They subsequently
held an informal discussion on the best way of achieving this
objective.

The 122nd Session was marked by the transfer of the Chairmanship of
the Committee of Ministers from the United Kingdom to Albania.

Armen Papikyan, Armenia’s permanent representative to the Council of
Europe, delivered a speech during the session. Besides referring to
the agenda issues, he expressed concern about xenophobia in some
countries and cases of propagating hatred, which become more and more
frequent. In that regard Armen Papikyan called for the Council of
Europe and member states to take consistent steps for excluding
similar manifestations and condemning them.

The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe will hold the next
session May 16, 2013 in Armenia. During the 123rd session the
Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers will be transferred from
Albania to Armenia.

From: A. Papazian