Condemnable That Attacks on Social Media Are Organized or Coordinated by Officials

I had hoped that during these responsible days, any such developments would be excluded and that we would be united, considering the imperative of all of us being together, respecting each other's rights, and solving all problems precisely on the basis of that principle. This was stated by Armenia’s Human Rights Defender Arman Tatoyan on his Facebook page.

His publication, titled “The Obligation of Respect by Power and Opposition Towards the Human Rights System,” is presented below:

1. The external and internal challenges of these days require solidarity and unity, as well as respect for each other's rights, including opinions, regardless of political or any other type of views.

2. From the perspective of these principles, both public authority bodies and their opponents have a crucial role to play, ensuring the content of public-political discussions and the public discourse.

3. Everyone's potential must be directed towards our priorities: ensuring the realization of socio-economic rights in the post-war situation, providing grounds for the criminal accountability of Azerbaijani armed forces for violating the rights of our compatriots and committing war crimes, and so on.

4. Unfortunately, a discourse has been introduced and continues in our country that labels society as “new and old,” “black and white,” which is essentially an unacceptable agenda to divide society into groups and sow discrimination.

Moreover, the use of such vocabulary (often without an addressee) by government bodies and officials is unacceptable, which has gained widespread public usage and further contributed to the deepening of a culture of intolerance in the country (for example, “pizza-eater,” “betrayed,” etc.).

I specifically mention government bodies and officials because they are ultimately responsible, in a broad sense, for the content of public dialogue and discussions, the priorities of the country, as well as overcoming intolerance.

5. It is extremely concerning that various circles of political or social opposition, ignoring the requirements of the human rights system, are further contributing to the deepening of intolerance and increasing tension.

It is condemnable the development and even encouragement of an agenda that divides society into groups and offends people using the vocabulary of certain circles of the political opposition. For instance, the use of expressions such as “trash,” “zombies,” etc., by certain public figures to offend part of society is unacceptable.

6. Long-term and targeted observations by the staff of the Human Rights Defender indicate that this unacceptable situation is exacerbated by groups used for organized and targeted attacks involving both government bodies and various opposition circles within social networks (especially Facebook).

These pages and accounts operate in groups and with specific directives to insult individuals, violate their dignity, and incite threats and calls for violence.

7. Generally, it is absolutely unacceptable to make the “culture” of insults and threats part of public discourse.

8. It is highly condemnable that, during their tenure, social media attacks are organized or coordinated by high-ranking officials. Moreover, according to the substantiated assumption of the specialists of the Human Rights Defender’s staff, some of these officials personally manage fake pages and distribute hate, threats, and insults from these pages.

9. As a result, the entire Armenian domain of social media has been flooded with insults, threats directed at one another, and hate speech, fundamentally violating the requirements of the human rights system.

10. Unfortunately, these detrimental phenomena have seen a significant increase over the past few years and have acquired a systematic and institutional nature.

11. I had hoped that such developments would be excluded during these responsible days, and we would be united, considering the imperative of all of us being together, respecting each other's rights, and solving all problems precisely on the basis of that principle.

12. But not only did that not happen, but we now face a situation that severely violates people's rights (the inviolability of mental integrity, the right to private and family life, etc.), is harmful to the health of society and the atmosphere of cooperation in the country, and undermines our national security during these days.

13. The socio-political system must always be based on human rights as universal high values and guided by the principle of respect for those rights, including the opinions of others.

14. Therefore, we must act with respect for the human rights system, correctly identify our priorities in these days, and be united for the sake of those priorities and for the rights of each one of us, relying on our own powerful potential.