Observations and examination of incidents that involved human rights defenders and activists in 2017 in Armenia provide ample grounds to conclude that the overall environment in Armenia is not conducive to fully and safely defending the interests and rights of individual citizens and public groups. Key factors accounting for this situation include unequal treatment, institutional and other obstacles posed against human rights defenders, environmentalists, defense attorneys, journalists and mass media by the state and state-affiliated institutions (businesses, church, NGOs). Having signed the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders,1 the Republic of Armenia has a prime responsibility and duty not only to protect, promote and implement all human rights and fundamental freedoms, but also to take necessary steps to support the activities of individual human rights defenders, human rights groups and associations. It is remarkable that human rights defenders and activists defending public interests face not only the obstacles posed by the dysfunctional judicial system and other institutions of governance (local governance bodies, law enforcement bodies), but are also subjected to discrimination, a culture widely encouraged by the ruling political parties. Their ideologies (“nation-army” militarist concept which glorifies masculinist power-based ethics, as well as the enhanced powers of the Armenian Apostolic Church to intervene in the activities of the state) take a toll on the already difficult task of human rights protection in Armenia. In addition, the field of human rights is often depicted as an arena of geopolitical warfare wherein Russia’s anti-European propaganda is waged and wherein internal issues are easier to be ignored. This creates a fertile ground for the growth of anti-rights activists and NGOs advocating for the interests of businesses and political parties, which offset the human rights movement in Armenia. On the other hand, as part of their partnership with the government of Armenia, international formal institutions often retreat and compromise on the priority of enhancing human rights in Armenia and on persisting with implementation of their own recommendations. Visible public actors and human rights defenders (particularly defenders of women’s and LGBT+ rights, political critics of the government or state bodies) become targets of discrimination, smear campaigns, hatred and hostility, are threatened and legally prosecuted. It is remarkable that these campaigns are led by state bodies, their representatives, the ruling Republican Party and its proxy mass media. As a consequence, anti-rights and corporate business promoting NGOs affiliated with specific parties and state politicians of Armenia and tacitly supported by the government of Russia have been burgeoning in recent years. These often act as progressive human rights defenders, however more often disseminate offensive language, smear, hate speech and threats against human rights defenders and promote the interests of the above-mentioned political forces in their own agendas at the expense of protection of the interests and rights Armenian citizens.
