Advisory committee on the framework convention for the protection of national minorities

2019/06/84865-1559726867.jpg
Read: 2007     16:00     05 Июнь 2019    

The difficulties in the socio-economic sphere continue to affect significantly a large part of the population of Armenia. The hardship is particularly acute in poorer regions, some of which are inhabited by a large proportion of the Yazidi national minority in secluded mountainous areas. Consequently, this community has experienced both a significant drop in numbers as well as its proportion within Armenian society on account of emigration. On the other hand, it has to be commended that in spite of economic difficulties, Armenia admitted into the country over 20 000 people, mainly of Armenian and Assyrian descent, fleeing the conflict in Syria.
On the positive side, the authorities continue to support cultural projects of national minorities and provide grants to newspapers and periodic publications in their languages. Armenian public radio continues to broadcast programmes in languages of 11 national minorities. Television broadcasts from abroad in the Russian and Ukrainian languages are widely accessible through the cable networks. Yazidi, Kurdish, Russian, Assyrian and Greek are taught in school and support is also provided in various forms for teaching of languages of other national minorities. Regrettably, the authorities display a rather passive approach towards cultural projects of national minorities, which are lacking both organizational and human resource capacity to initiate cultural undertakings on account of their low numbers and which are not in a position to articulate their needs. All too often such projects are limited to superficial aspects of minority cultures.

In this context, the Advisory Committee notes that in its declaration contained in the instrument of ratification of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (ETS No. 148), Armenia stated that the provisions of the charter shall apply to five languages of national minorities, namely Assyrian, Greek, Kurdish, Russian and Yazidi. Furthermore, according to the draft Electoral Code11 the national electoral list may have a second part, wherein representatives of “the first four national minorities with the largest resident population – according to the data of the latest census preceding the elections – may be included”. This provision, if adopted and implemented, will ensure representation in the National Assembly of the Assyrian, Kurdish, Russian and Yazidi national minorities (see further comment on the representation of national minorities under Article 15).

Census and ethnicity data collection.
The results of the population and housing census, which was organized in October 2011 in the Republic of Armenia, were published with considerable delay in December 2013. The Advisory Committee welcomes that the questions on ethnic affiliation and languages spoken were open ended and optional. Regrettably, and contrary to the Conference of European Statisticians Recommendation for the 2010 Censuses of Population and Housing, the respondents were not allowed to indicate more than one ethnic affiliation, although it has to be noted that the questions on languages spoken (“mother tongue” and “other language”) allowed respondents to indicate more than one language, or to not answer the question. According to the published census results, of the 3 018 854 respondents, the number of those declaring ethnicity other than Armenian was: Yazidi – 35 308; Russian – 11 911; Assyrian – 2 769; Kurdish – 2 162; Ukrainian – 1 176; Greek – 900; Georgian – 617 and Persian – 476. The figures on other nationalities were not published on account of their small numbers and the data protection rules (the total number of those who indicated another ethnic affiliation was 1 634, while another 100 people refused to answer). The Advisory Committee notes that data collected during the census, disaggregated by age, gender and geographical distribution are readily available and reportedly much used by the state agencies and civil society alike to refine their policies and assess whether the needs of people belonging to national minorities are adequately addressed.
The Advisory Committee welcomes measures taken by the authorities to train census enumerators belonging to national minorities, in particular Kurds and Yazidis, with the aim to encourage respondents belonging to different minorities to declare their ethnic affiliation. It further commends the extensive awareness-raising campaign which preceded the census.
Data collected during the census show a drop both as a proportion of the overall population and in absolute figures of the number of people declaring ethnic affiliation other than Armenian (from 2.1% in 200113 to 1.84% in 2011).14 The number of people belonging to the Yazidi national minority shows the most marked decrease (from 40 620 in 2001 to 35 308 in 2011). The Advisory Committee notes that the authorities and the representatives alike attribute this drop to the difficult economic situation affecting the majority and all the national minorities, and which has led to significant migration from Armenia. The higher emigration rate among the Yazidi national minority is attributed to the difficult living conditions, economic underdevelopment of the secluded mountainous areas where they live and well-established national communities in a number of other states.

The Advisory Committee further notes that, in recent years, over 20 000 ethnic Armenians and Assyrians, as well as some Kurds and Yazidis , from Syria have settled in the Republic of Armenia, after fleeing war and persecution in their country of origin. The arrival of such a large group of immigrants, constituting just under 1% of the population of the country, was not met with hostility or apprehension. On the contrary, a number of interlocutors informed the Advisory Committee of efforts by the authorities and civil society to facilitate their resettlement. In spite of the assistance and integration programmes developed by the authorities and material assistance provided by civil society organizations, such as the Armenian General Benevolent Union the world’s largest Armenian non-profit organization, many of the immigrants suffer from inadequate housing and unemployment
In general, the Advisory Committee notes that strict social codes of behavior dictate the lives of Yazidi men and women alike. However, Yazidi girls and women tend to be held back by paternalistic attitudes and a lack of respect for gender equality within their community. Both young Yazidi men and women tend to drop out from school early and marriages prearranged by families are still the general practice. In this context, the Advisory Committee regrets to note that there is no specific legislation dealing with forced marriage.

The Advisory Committee is pleased to note that representatives of national minorities express their general satisfaction with access to the media. Armenian public radio continues to broadcast daily programmes in the languages of national minorities. The length of programming varies between 30 minutes (for each of the more widely spoken languages, namely Assyrian, Kurdish, Russian and Yazidi) to 15 minutes (for less common languages).Representatives of the Greek national minority have informed the Advisory Committee of their initiatives to extend Greek language radio broadcasting to 30 minutes a day.
The number of press titles published in Armenia, with financial support provided by the authorities, in languages of national minorities is quite substantial; Russian-language publications include: Respublica Armenia, Urartu, Golos Armenii, Novoye Vremya and Delovoy Express, as well as other newspapers and the Literaturnaya Armenia, Yerevan, Afisha, Armyanka periodic magazines. In addition there are papers published in Yezidi: Lalesh, Ezdikhana (“The voice of Yazidis” in Armenian); Kurdish Rya Taza (New way), Mijagetq (Armenian-Kurdish); Ukrainian Dnipro, Magen David (“The star of David” in Russian) of the Jewish community and the Greek Byzantine inheritance.

Equal access to education for persons belonging to national minorities
The Advisory Committee recalls its observations made in the previous opinions concerning inadequate access of Yazidi and Kurdish children to preschool. In addition, the curricula in such preschools, where they existed, did not correspond to the multilingual community and the diverse needs of the children attending them.
In order to facilitate the establishment of such preschools, the minimum number of children required has been lowered in cases of children speaking a national minority language to 8 (down from the standard 25). The setting-up, with financial assistance of foreign donors, of Yazidi classes in the villages of Geghamasar, Arpunq, Poqr Masrik in Gegharkunik Marz (municipality), providing preschool education to 50 children aged 4 and 5 is particularly welcome. The Advisory Committee notes in this context that reliance on foreign donors cannot be considered a sustainable solution in the long term and may put at risk any progress achieved due to external factors that are beyond the control of the national and local authorities.

The Advisory Committee welcomes the number of initiatives taken by several schools to familiarize children with other cultures and languages, such as exhibitions of crafts of national minorities, the Native Language Day and holding lectures on the International Day of Tolerance. Furthermore, specific events were organized to promote awareness of national minority cultures, such as celebration of the “Yazididi” holiday of spring awakening, “Russia – brother of mine”, “I am Georgian, and you – Armenian” and “Discovering Greece”. Such initiatives, while praiseworthy in themselves, tend to limit the perception of national minorities to their folkloristic aspects, without deeper reflection on their contribution as part of Armenian society. Moreover, the Advisory Committee notes that representatives of national minorities consider that such initiatives need to be greatly expanded as schools devote little attention to the history of national minorities. As a result, many minority children, such as the Yazidis and Russian Molokans, are less aware of their own history than of Armenian history or “the History of the Armenian Apostolic Church” which is taught as a subject. Furthermore, the Advisory Committee recalls its long-held view that the history of national minorities, as a constituent part of society, should be taught at all schools to increase children’s awareness of the cultural and ethnic diversity of their country.

Teaching in and of minority languages

The Advisory Committee notes that the Assyrian, Kurdish and Yazidi languages continue to be taught both at primary and at secondary level schools. According to data for 2015, the Assyrian language is taught in six schools established in Yerevan and the Ararat, Kotayk and Armavir marzes (regions) to 557 children. The Kurdish language is taught in seven schools in the Aragatsotn marz to 394 children. Finally, the Yazidi language is taught in 23 schools located in the Ararat, Aragatsotn and Armavir marzes to 847 children. The national minority languages are taught two hours per week and the minimal number of children required to establish a class has been set at 10. The Advisory Committee commends the authorities’ efforts to produce textbooks and teaching materials in minority languages. Textbooks used in schools providing education in the Russian language continue to be printed in Armenia. In addition, complementary teaching materials are imported from the Russian Federation. During the current monitoring cycle, Kurdish language textbooks for the 2nd, 3rd and 4th grades were published in 2012, and the textbooks intended for the 5th, 6th and 7th grades were published in 2014. As regards the Yazidi language, textbooks for grades 2 to 11 were published between 2011 and 2014, and the “Alphabet of the Yazidi language” was re-published also in 2014. Finally textbooks for 1st grade children “Speak Assyrian” and 2nd graders “Write and speak Assyrian” were published in 2010 and 2011.

Representation of minorities in elected bodies

The Advisory Committee notes that national minorities continue to show strong interest in public affairs. National minority candidates participated in the local elections of 2013 and were elected as local councilors and community chiefs. In Yerevan, councilors of Yazidi and Georgian origin have been elected to the city council. In a number of villages councilors representing the Yazidi, Assyrian or Kurdish minorities are the majority among all elected councilors and effectively are in charge of administering local affairs. At the national level, a person belonging to the Greek minority has been elected to the National Assembly and holds the post of deputy speaker. The Advisory Committee notes that a new Electoral Code is currently under consideration and specific modalities of how to promote representation of national minorities in the National Assembly in line with the Guidelines on Political Party Regulation44 are being discussed with the experts of the Venice Commission. Without prejudging final discussions and their outcome, one proposal under consideration at this stage is that four national minority groups (Yazidis, Russians, Assyrians and Kurds) will be assured representation, in line with Article 89.5 of the constitutional amendments of 22 December 2015 which stipulate that “places shall be assigned in the National Assembly for representatives of national minorities”.

David Babaev

Yazidis.info





Tags:



Advisory committee on the framework convention for the protection of national minorities

2019/06/84865-1559726867.jpg
Read: 2008     16:00     05 Июнь 2019    

The difficulties in the socio-economic sphere continue to affect significantly a large part of the population of Armenia. The hardship is particularly acute in poorer regions, some of which are inhabited by a large proportion of the Yazidi national minority in secluded mountainous areas. Consequently, this community has experienced both a significant drop in numbers as well as its proportion within Armenian society on account of emigration. On the other hand, it has to be commended that in spite of economic difficulties, Armenia admitted into the country over 20 000 people, mainly of Armenian and Assyrian descent, fleeing the conflict in Syria.
On the positive side, the authorities continue to support cultural projects of national minorities and provide grants to newspapers and periodic publications in their languages. Armenian public radio continues to broadcast programmes in languages of 11 national minorities. Television broadcasts from abroad in the Russian and Ukrainian languages are widely accessible through the cable networks. Yazidi, Kurdish, Russian, Assyrian and Greek are taught in school and support is also provided in various forms for teaching of languages of other national minorities. Regrettably, the authorities display a rather passive approach towards cultural projects of national minorities, which are lacking both organizational and human resource capacity to initiate cultural undertakings on account of their low numbers and which are not in a position to articulate their needs. All too often such projects are limited to superficial aspects of minority cultures.

In this context, the Advisory Committee notes that in its declaration contained in the instrument of ratification of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (ETS No. 148), Armenia stated that the provisions of the charter shall apply to five languages of national minorities, namely Assyrian, Greek, Kurdish, Russian and Yazidi. Furthermore, according to the draft Electoral Code11 the national electoral list may have a second part, wherein representatives of “the first four national minorities with the largest resident population – according to the data of the latest census preceding the elections – may be included”. This provision, if adopted and implemented, will ensure representation in the National Assembly of the Assyrian, Kurdish, Russian and Yazidi national minorities (see further comment on the representation of national minorities under Article 15).

Census and ethnicity data collection.
The results of the population and housing census, which was organized in October 2011 in the Republic of Armenia, were published with considerable delay in December 2013. The Advisory Committee welcomes that the questions on ethnic affiliation and languages spoken were open ended and optional. Regrettably, and contrary to the Conference of European Statisticians Recommendation for the 2010 Censuses of Population and Housing, the respondents were not allowed to indicate more than one ethnic affiliation, although it has to be noted that the questions on languages spoken (“mother tongue” and “other language”) allowed respondents to indicate more than one language, or to not answer the question. According to the published census results, of the 3 018 854 respondents, the number of those declaring ethnicity other than Armenian was: Yazidi – 35 308; Russian – 11 911; Assyrian – 2 769; Kurdish – 2 162; Ukrainian – 1 176; Greek – 900; Georgian – 617 and Persian – 476. The figures on other nationalities were not published on account of their small numbers and the data protection rules (the total number of those who indicated another ethnic affiliation was 1 634, while another 100 people refused to answer). The Advisory Committee notes that data collected during the census, disaggregated by age, gender and geographical distribution are readily available and reportedly much used by the state agencies and civil society alike to refine their policies and assess whether the needs of people belonging to national minorities are adequately addressed.
The Advisory Committee welcomes measures taken by the authorities to train census enumerators belonging to national minorities, in particular Kurds and Yazidis, with the aim to encourage respondents belonging to different minorities to declare their ethnic affiliation. It further commends the extensive awareness-raising campaign which preceded the census.
Data collected during the census show a drop both as a proportion of the overall population and in absolute figures of the number of people declaring ethnic affiliation other than Armenian (from 2.1% in 200113 to 1.84% in 2011).14 The number of people belonging to the Yazidi national minority shows the most marked decrease (from 40 620 in 2001 to 35 308 in 2011). The Advisory Committee notes that the authorities and the representatives alike attribute this drop to the difficult economic situation affecting the majority and all the national minorities, and which has led to significant migration from Armenia. The higher emigration rate among the Yazidi national minority is attributed to the difficult living conditions, economic underdevelopment of the secluded mountainous areas where they live and well-established national communities in a number of other states.

The Advisory Committee further notes that, in recent years, over 20 000 ethnic Armenians and Assyrians, as well as some Kurds and Yazidis , from Syria have settled in the Republic of Armenia, after fleeing war and persecution in their country of origin. The arrival of such a large group of immigrants, constituting just under 1% of the population of the country, was not met with hostility or apprehension. On the contrary, a number of interlocutors informed the Advisory Committee of efforts by the authorities and civil society to facilitate their resettlement. In spite of the assistance and integration programmes developed by the authorities and material assistance provided by civil society organizations, such as the Armenian General Benevolent Union the world’s largest Armenian non-profit organization, many of the immigrants suffer from inadequate housing and unemployment
In general, the Advisory Committee notes that strict social codes of behavior dictate the lives of Yazidi men and women alike. However, Yazidi girls and women tend to be held back by paternalistic attitudes and a lack of respect for gender equality within their community. Both young Yazidi men and women tend to drop out from school early and marriages prearranged by families are still the general practice. In this context, the Advisory Committee regrets to note that there is no specific legislation dealing with forced marriage.

The Advisory Committee is pleased to note that representatives of national minorities express their general satisfaction with access to the media. Armenian public radio continues to broadcast daily programmes in the languages of national minorities. The length of programming varies between 30 minutes (for each of the more widely spoken languages, namely Assyrian, Kurdish, Russian and Yazidi) to 15 minutes (for less common languages).Representatives of the Greek national minority have informed the Advisory Committee of their initiatives to extend Greek language radio broadcasting to 30 minutes a day.
The number of press titles published in Armenia, with financial support provided by the authorities, in languages of national minorities is quite substantial; Russian-language publications include: Respublica Armenia, Urartu, Golos Armenii, Novoye Vremya and Delovoy Express, as well as other newspapers and the Literaturnaya Armenia, Yerevan, Afisha, Armyanka periodic magazines. In addition there are papers published in Yezidi: Lalesh, Ezdikhana (“The voice of Yazidis” in Armenian); Kurdish Rya Taza (New way), Mijagetq (Armenian-Kurdish); Ukrainian Dnipro, Magen David (“The star of David” in Russian) of the Jewish community and the Greek Byzantine inheritance.

Equal access to education for persons belonging to national minorities
The Advisory Committee recalls its observations made in the previous opinions concerning inadequate access of Yazidi and Kurdish children to preschool. In addition, the curricula in such preschools, where they existed, did not correspond to the multilingual community and the diverse needs of the children attending them.
In order to facilitate the establishment of such preschools, the minimum number of children required has been lowered in cases of children speaking a national minority language to 8 (down from the standard 25). The setting-up, with financial assistance of foreign donors, of Yazidi classes in the villages of Geghamasar, Arpunq, Poqr Masrik in Gegharkunik Marz (municipality), providing preschool education to 50 children aged 4 and 5 is particularly welcome. The Advisory Committee notes in this context that reliance on foreign donors cannot be considered a sustainable solution in the long term and may put at risk any progress achieved due to external factors that are beyond the control of the national and local authorities.

The Advisory Committee welcomes the number of initiatives taken by several schools to familiarize children with other cultures and languages, such as exhibitions of crafts of national minorities, the Native Language Day and holding lectures on the International Day of Tolerance. Furthermore, specific events were organized to promote awareness of national minority cultures, such as celebration of the “Yazididi” holiday of spring awakening, “Russia – brother of mine”, “I am Georgian, and you – Armenian” and “Discovering Greece”. Such initiatives, while praiseworthy in themselves, tend to limit the perception of national minorities to their folkloristic aspects, without deeper reflection on their contribution as part of Armenian society. Moreover, the Advisory Committee notes that representatives of national minorities consider that such initiatives need to be greatly expanded as schools devote little attention to the history of national minorities. As a result, many minority children, such as the Yazidis and Russian Molokans, are less aware of their own history than of Armenian history or “the History of the Armenian Apostolic Church” which is taught as a subject. Furthermore, the Advisory Committee recalls its long-held view that the history of national minorities, as a constituent part of society, should be taught at all schools to increase children’s awareness of the cultural and ethnic diversity of their country.

Teaching in and of minority languages

The Advisory Committee notes that the Assyrian, Kurdish and Yazidi languages continue to be taught both at primary and at secondary level schools. According to data for 2015, the Assyrian language is taught in six schools established in Yerevan and the Ararat, Kotayk and Armavir marzes (regions) to 557 children. The Kurdish language is taught in seven schools in the Aragatsotn marz to 394 children. Finally, the Yazidi language is taught in 23 schools located in the Ararat, Aragatsotn and Armavir marzes to 847 children. The national minority languages are taught two hours per week and the minimal number of children required to establish a class has been set at 10. The Advisory Committee commends the authorities’ efforts to produce textbooks and teaching materials in minority languages. Textbooks used in schools providing education in the Russian language continue to be printed in Armenia. In addition, complementary teaching materials are imported from the Russian Federation. During the current monitoring cycle, Kurdish language textbooks for the 2nd, 3rd and 4th grades were published in 2012, and the textbooks intended for the 5th, 6th and 7th grades were published in 2014. As regards the Yazidi language, textbooks for grades 2 to 11 were published between 2011 and 2014, and the “Alphabet of the Yazidi language” was re-published also in 2014. Finally textbooks for 1st grade children “Speak Assyrian” and 2nd graders “Write and speak Assyrian” were published in 2010 and 2011.

Representation of minorities in elected bodies

The Advisory Committee notes that national minorities continue to show strong interest in public affairs. National minority candidates participated in the local elections of 2013 and were elected as local councilors and community chiefs. In Yerevan, councilors of Yazidi and Georgian origin have been elected to the city council. In a number of villages councilors representing the Yazidi, Assyrian or Kurdish minorities are the majority among all elected councilors and effectively are in charge of administering local affairs. At the national level, a person belonging to the Greek minority has been elected to the National Assembly and holds the post of deputy speaker. The Advisory Committee notes that a new Electoral Code is currently under consideration and specific modalities of how to promote representation of national minorities in the National Assembly in line with the Guidelines on Political Party Regulation44 are being discussed with the experts of the Venice Commission. Without prejudging final discussions and their outcome, one proposal under consideration at this stage is that four national minority groups (Yazidis, Russians, Assyrians and Kurds) will be assured representation, in line with Article 89.5 of the constitutional amendments of 22 December 2015 which stipulate that “places shall be assigned in the National Assembly for representatives of national minorities”.

David Babaev

Yazidis.info





Tags: