Insults and Abuse Must Be Excluded, Any Words Related to Hatred and Violence: Human Rights Defender to Nikol Pashinyan and Other Candidates

The atmosphere in which the pre-election campaign is taking place is highly concerning. It deepens the polarization in society and undermines the prospects for restoring solidarity in the country. This cannot continue.

This was stated by Human Rights Defender Arman Tatoyan. All political forces must exclude insults and abuse, as well as any words related to hatred and violence.

All political forces participating in the elections, particularly the candidates for Prime Minister, must take into account that every word they use spreads among their supporters, and then they insult and abuse each other with those very words.

Figures considered candidates for the position of Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia should be especially cautious with their language and consider all figurative meanings of the words they use. The promises made by the Acting Prime Minister today regarding civil and political vendettas, civil revenge, and staff purges, as well as the use of abusive language, are extremely concerning. Bringing such vocabulary into the public domain, especially in the electoral process, is unacceptable.

However one may interpret it, these mentioned vendettas and civil revenge are clearly associated with violence and retribution, while staff purges are linked to massive violations of labor rights. The real danger of such rhetoric is that it further exacerbates already existing tensions and contains risks of spilling over into real life.

Indeed, the Acting Prime Minister has emphasized that the words do not refer to physical retribution, but it is evident that this does not neutralize the dangerous effect of the aforementioned.

We reiterate that the appeal of the Human Rights Defender to the Acting Prime Minister is made with the consideration that, besides being political, he continues to retain the status of head of the executive power of the Republic of Armenia, regardless of whether he is on vacation or not; that is why he is also within the direct jurisdiction of the Human Rights Defender.

By virtue of this status, the words of the Acting Prime Minister can be misunderstood by the public and can convey incorrect messages to state bodies, primarily to law enforcement agencies.

Monitoring by the Human Rights Defender's office shows that in social media spaces where materials titled 'civil revenge', 'vendetta', and similar have spread, there has been a significant amount of insults, hate speech, and mutual accusations recorded. These titles further confirm that the reservation of not relating to physical retribution has had no effect.

Monitoring of social networks also indicates that the topic of a duel between the Prime Minister candidate of the 'Armenia' alliance and the Acting Prime Minister from the 'Civil Contract' party is also being discussed in the context of violence.

Moreover, during a meeting today with the Acting Prime Minister, a citizen mentioned that he was dismissed from his job by the Prime Minister candidate of the 'Armenia' alliance for, in his words, not voting for him. This statement concerns violations of employment and several other rights, and a separate letter will be addressed to the Prosecutor's Office from the Human Rights Defender's office.