Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan today attended the Universal Rights Award ceremony. Attending the event were state officials, foreign diplomats, civil society and mass media representatives.

Prime Minister Pashinyan made a speech, in which he stated:
“Dear Ambassadors,
Dear Guests,

On behalf of the Government of the Republic of Armenia, I welcome the Universal Rights Award Ceremony.

This award ceremony comes in an extremely important period, a crucial period for Armenia, and what matters most is that many human rights-related issues eventually got their solution after going unaddressed for over 25 years. I mean the fact that elections were held in the Republic of Armenia, the official results of which are not contested. This is actually a turning point for the Republic of Armenia, and it was the case in the 2018 parliamentary elections.

I want to state that the change consists in that election results will no longer be falsified in the Republic of Armenia, and our government has demonstrated its commitment to this goal regardless of election results. Note that the incumbent authorities had undesirable results in local elections, but I should emphasize that we will accept any choice made by the people of Armenia.

This, of course, does not mean that the solution of this global issue has ruled out human rights violations in the Republic of Armenia. Not at all. But I want to say that today’s government is not the ally and sponsor of those individuals and layers in breach of human rights; instead we stand for those people and structures who are struggling against human rights violations. This is a cornerstone and key issue for us.

What is our human rights protection formula? Our formula consists in providing equal opportunities for all citizens and ensuring equal access to opportunities. We will consistently proceed along this path, because our political viewpoint and vision, our ideology is that the first thing to do in the field of human rights is to ensure that all citizens in the Republic of Armenia could live up to their social, scientific, economic and political position through the realization of their objective capabilities.

This does not mean that those who cannot have that objective ability should be left out of the scope and orbit of our policy. On the contrary, it is also important for us to encourage and help people get the needed capacity to develop their objective abilities, to have easy access to education and enjoy equal opportunities with others.

This is a strategic issue for us, for our country, and we must ensure that only the best persons are elevated to political, economic and educational positions in Armenia, because only fair and equal opportunities may lead to such favorable conditions for Armenian citizens.

In the context of our rights, it is important for us to state that the human being is a supreme value in the Republic of Armenia. But I also want to note that in terms of enforcing this thesis, it is important for an individual to be the highest value not only for the government, but also for his fellow countrymen. This should become an important pillar of our new political reality.
Yes, man is the highest value for the Government of the Republic of Armenia, for the government established in Armenia, and our most important task is to ensure that the citizen is considered be the highest value for other citizens, his / her neighbors, etc; even the rival and opponent must be the highest value for a rival and opponent.

In this case, we will really have a country where human rights and universal rights are guaranteed irrespective of the government in office, and that no government for which the citizen is not a supreme value could ever be formed in the Republic of Armenia.

I do believe that today’s gathering and award ceremony come to highlight the message that the human being is a paramount value for each of us and the human being should be the main target of our activities. Therefore, I feel that today we are celebrating the Humans Day, the Day of Human Rights.

We want to encourage those to whom a person is truly the highest value, who by promoting human rights, democracy, and a better future believe that they serve first of all their fellow countrymen, because man is the only asset worth serving, it is a privilege. I congratulate all of us on today’s human-centered Armenia and today’s human-centered event.”

Head of EU Delegation to the Republic of Armenia, Ambassador Piotr Antoni Switalski, UN Resident Coordinator in Armenia Shombi Sharp, Chargé d’Affaires, a.i. of the U.S. Embassy in Armenia Rafik Mansour, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to the Republic of Armenia Judith Margareth Farnworth, Head of Council of Europe Office in Yerevan Natalia Vutova, Chargé d’Affaires of Sweden in Armenia Martin Fredrickson, French Ambassador to Armenia Jonathan Lacôte, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Federal Republic of Germany to the Republic of Armenia Bernhard Matthias Kiesler.

The Universal Rights Award was awarded in 10 nominations: Freedom Defender, Community Development, Access to Justice, Promoting Inclusion, Media Excellence, Government Reformer, Partnership Advocate, Brave Woman, Young Leader, as well as the French-German joint award, referred to as Equal Opportunities.

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The Universal Rights Award Ceremony has been held since 2012. It aims to highlight the contribution made by civil society, media representatives and government officials in promoting human rights and freedoms, freedom of speech, tolerance, democracy, transparency, legal reform and equal rights in Armenia.