On December 1, the Human Rights Defender Ms. Anahit
Manasyan gave a speech within the framework of the program "Empowering
Women’s Rights Defenders in Armenia" in Tsaghkadzor.
The aim of the program is to promote women's involvement
in the protection of human rights in Armenia. Participants from 10 provinces
attended the meeting.
Welcoming the attendees, Ms. Manasyan referred to the
challenges facing human rights defenders, and the existing problems in the
field. In this context, she noted that human rights advocacy is a way of life,
a mission, and not a means of becoming a “hero”.
"We must admit that those who carry out this mission
also often find themselves in vulnerable situations. This is even more
pronounced when human rights defenders are women and also carry out their
activities in the field of equality, protection of the rights of vulnerable
groups, or raise issues related to the protection of rights that are not
popular in a particular social environment” stated Ms. Manasyan.
The Human Rights Defender mentioned that the latter are
more likely to be subjected to online attacks and become targets of hate
speech, including online hate speech, due to the fact of being a woman.
During her speech Ms. Manasyan addressed the cases of
gender-based targeting of women at all levels of society. She noted that women
are very often targeted for reasons that men will never be targeted.
"The best method to combat this phenomenon is to
counteract it by our collective efforts. Each of us must contribute to the
formation of a harmonious social environment and the promotion of women's
rights through our example” concluded Ms. Manasyan.
The participants of the meeting had the opportunity to
address their questions to the Human Rights Defender. The questions were
related to the women's rights, bullying, combating intolerance and
discrimination, etc.
The program "Empowering Women’s Rights Defenders in
Armenia" is implemented by the Institute of Liberal Politics by the
support of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Armenia.
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