I have applied to the Commission
for the Prevention of Corruption in relation to the conduct of some public
officials on social networks.
This is about those
public officials who,
1) write swearwords or
other insults, or publish posts which justify or encourage violence on social
networks,
2) do not delete the
comments with such contents from under their posts,
3) support such posts
with approvals (at least with a “like”) or share them publically,
4) justify (including
publically) the posts of their subordinates which contain swearwords or other
insults, or justify and encourage violence, reasoning that they are satisfied
with the performance of their subordinates’ obligations, or that it is not
within their function to monitor the conduct of their subordinates on social
networks.
I have also sent to the Commission
for the Prevention of Corruption examples of the conduct of specific public
officials.
Tensions on social networks
are on a dangerous level, especially taking into consideration the emotional
tensions following the war. It is evident that during such situations, it is
the direct obligation of the state to prevent all these, and to guarantee an
atmosphere of peace and solidarity.
The mentioned public
officials hinder the state in its effort to solve that issue with their
conduct, only contribute to the increase of tensions, and as a result of their
conduct the level of aggressiveness in society increases.
Added to this is the fact
that their posts are shared by media outlet pages or pages with a large number
of followers on social networks, as a result of which the mentioned posts are
disseminated more widely, and have a dangerous effect on the atmosphere of
tension.
That, in its turn is also
dangerous, since it can move to sphere of real lives and lead to cases of
violence.
The sending of these
reports by the Human Rights Defender of Armenia to the Commission for the
Prevention of Corruption is conditioned by the fact that the issue is related
to the acts of public officials that violate the rights of the citizens, and
undermine the human rights system in the country.
This illegal behavior of
the public officials damages the reputation and standing of our state
bodies.
In relation to these
issues, I had also applied to the law enforcement bodes if Armenia, namely the
Prosecution, the National Security Service and the Police, including those
related to the important function of combating and preventing crime
Persons occupying positions in state and
self-government bodies and public authorities should be role models of
solidarity with their conducts, and they are primarily obliged to exclude any
form of speech insulting the dignity of human beings and speech related to violence, and especially
exclude the justifying or encouraging of such vicious ad vile phenomena.
Arman Tatoyan
The Human Rights Defender of Armenia
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