The
studies of the Human Rights Defender's Office prove that the polarization of
the public on various basis recently reached an extreme level, as a result of
which intolerance, hate speech, insults, violence, the latter's preachment and
calls became widespread in the public environment.
Tolerance
is a cornerstone in building a democratic society free from violence and
discrimination. Meanwhile, public polarization undermines the values underlying
the legal and democratic state.
Free
public debate on any issue is one of the key achievements of a democratic
society. At the same time, every discussion should take place within the
permitted framework of the right to freedom of expression, in the atmosphere of
respect and solidarity for the rights and freedoms of other people.
The
Human Rights Defender notes that any manifestation of hate speech, calls to
violence, insults, degrading treatment, regardless of who it is spread by or to
whom it is addressed, is unacceptable and poses a serious threat to the entire
system of human rights protection, therefore it should be excluded from public
speech and the domain of public relations.
The
mission of the Human Rights Defender is to monitor the maintenance of human
rights and freedoms by state and local self-government bodies and officials.
The Defender’s mandate is not directly related to the regulation of relations
between state bodies, officials, if the issue does not require the need to
protect a concrete individual right. At the same time, the public speech of
officials, their relationships and existing issues in this regard have a
significant impact on the general system of the human rights protection. From
this point of view, the legitimacy of speech and behavior in the Parliament is
especially important, as a main platform for discussions on issues of public
interest. Therefore, it is essential that the relations between state bodies,
officials, the methodology chosen for political and other public activities
comply with the above-mentioned standards of legitimacy. Any political debate
or discussion should take place in an atmosphere of solidarity and respect,
excluding inappropriate speech, including insults, degrading treatment, hate
speech and preachment of violence.
Every
person holding a public position and public servant has a direct duty to observe
the rules of conduct, exclude and mitigate public polarization, violence, hate
speech, direct or indirect justification or encouragement of illegal phenomena,
including violence. Furthermore, it is important for officials to use their
public platform to counter unlawful manifestation of speech and behavior,
including expressions and misinformation targeting various groups of society. From
the point of view of creating a proper system of human rights protection, it is
essential that other famous persons, public and political figures take this
fact into consideration.
The
Human Rights Defender particularly emphasizes that the culture of political and
public debate in our society needs to be transformed, which is a priority issue
in the way of guaranteeing public tolerance, solidarity and the rule of law.
Anahit
Manasyan
The
Human Rights Defender of Armenia
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