The U.S. State Department noted in its 2022 annual report on the situation of the Yazidi community in Armenia

2023/03/5-1679900860.jpg
Read: 2374     12:30     27 Март 2023    

The U.S. State Department's report on Armenian human rights was released in early March 2023. The report documented a number of issues that concern the rights and freedoms of the Yazidi community in Armenia. In particular, the report noted the educational situation of the Yazidi community, "The enrollment and attendance rates of children from ethnic minority groups, particularly Yazidis, Kurds, and Molokans, were well below average, and dropout rates after ninth grade were higher. Seven schools across the country offered Yazidi and Assyrian language classes either as part of the core curriculum or as extracurricular activities. Yazidi community considers the number of schools insufficient, given the size of the community. Yazidi parents continue to complain that classes are substandard and largely ineffective. It is reported that most Yazidi children grew up speaking their native language and had little or no knowledge of Armenian when they entered school. Early marriage of girls remained among the reasons for dropping out of school.

The lack of pre-school educational services in most Yazidi villages, insufficient professional qualifications of the teaching staff, discrimination of Yazidi pupils, and the quality of Yazidi language instruction created problems for Yazidi children, who struggled at school and fell behind their Armenian-speaking classmates. The government did not investigate allegations of human rights violations against Yazidis, instead the government prosecuted Yazidi activist Sashik Sultanian for inciting hatred for comments he made raising human rights concerns about the treatment of the Yazidi community. Individual Yazidis occasionally reported experiencing discrimination, including in cases involving property disputes. Residents of some Yazidi villages in Aragatsotn Region viewed the poor socio-economic situation of the villages, lack of roads, water, and other infrastructure as indirect discrimination. There were isolated reports of societal discrimination through graffiti using pejorative terms against Yazidis.

The report describes in great detail the situation around the illegal persecution of Yazidi human rights activist Sashik Sultanian: "The trial of Yazidi human rights activist and head of "Yazidi Center for Human Rights" continued for a year, until he left the country in July. A court subsequently issued a warrant for his arrest, and in July 2021 he was charged with inciting national, racial or religious hatred for comments he made to a journalist ... (which he clearly stated were 'off the record') criticising the treatment of Yazidis in Armenia, the journalist secretly recorded the human rights defender's speech and then published it. International human rights organizations considered Sultanian's statements to be clear examples of legitimate protected speech and considered this harassment to be malicious and a threat to democracy. According to human rights defenders, the prosecution was unable to prove any malicious acts or wrongdoing by Sultanian. The case materials showed that Sultanian had been under observation by the Armenian security services prior to the interview on suspicion of connections with foreign secret services and a threat to the constitutional order. The materials of the case and the prosecution questioned the typical aspects of Sultanian's activities, such as revealing discrimination problems in international forums, collecting data on discrimination against Yazidis during COVID-19 and receiving international grants for human rights activities. According to human rights activists, the prosecution has had a particularly hindering effect on national minorities. According to Yazidi Center for Human Rights, Sultanian left the country because of "illegal" persecution and threats to his physical safety. The continued prosecution during the year also raised concerns about the lack of oversight of the National Security Service."

The report noted that NGO members also continued to report threats against them: "Intimidation continued to come from Internet trolls, media, malicious news agencies and nationalist groups, many of which were linked to the previous government and, according to some local experts, to Russian figures. Those who promoted human rights, children's and women's rights were particularly affected..."

According to observers: "The perpetrators sought to vilify, discredit and marginalize democracy and human rights-oriented civil society, and replace them with other 'civil society' actors who support authoritarianism. According to Human Rights House (HRH), a relatively recent trend, identified in 2021, where nationalist campaigns against human rights defenders continued throughout the year. Such campaigns included the filing of complaints against human rights defenders based on false allegations of alleged crimes. The intention was to divert the energy and attention of HRDs from their legitimate work, and according to HRH, the spread of false allegations had a significant chilling effect on HRDs and their work.

In June, attorneys Tigran Atanesyan and Margarita Gyulumyan petitioned the court of general jurisdiction to immediately liquidate the Open Society Foundation-Armenia on the grounds that the foundation had deviated from the goals envisioned in its charter and that its activities threatened state and public security. In August, the court declared the complaint admissible, and the case was pending further review. The foundation and other credible human rights activists and civil society insisted that the complaint only sought to harass and discredit the work of human rights defenders in the country.

www.state.gov/reports





Tags: #yazidisinfo   #newsyazidis   #aboutyazidis   #reportarmenia   #humanrights  



The U.S. State Department noted in its 2022 annual report on the situation of the Yazidi community in Armenia

2023/03/5-1679900860.jpg
Read: 2375     12:30     27 Март 2023    

The U.S. State Department's report on Armenian human rights was released in early March 2023. The report documented a number of issues that concern the rights and freedoms of the Yazidi community in Armenia. In particular, the report noted the educational situation of the Yazidi community, "The enrollment and attendance rates of children from ethnic minority groups, particularly Yazidis, Kurds, and Molokans, were well below average, and dropout rates after ninth grade were higher. Seven schools across the country offered Yazidi and Assyrian language classes either as part of the core curriculum or as extracurricular activities. Yazidi community considers the number of schools insufficient, given the size of the community. Yazidi parents continue to complain that classes are substandard and largely ineffective. It is reported that most Yazidi children grew up speaking their native language and had little or no knowledge of Armenian when they entered school. Early marriage of girls remained among the reasons for dropping out of school.

The lack of pre-school educational services in most Yazidi villages, insufficient professional qualifications of the teaching staff, discrimination of Yazidi pupils, and the quality of Yazidi language instruction created problems for Yazidi children, who struggled at school and fell behind their Armenian-speaking classmates. The government did not investigate allegations of human rights violations against Yazidis, instead the government prosecuted Yazidi activist Sashik Sultanian for inciting hatred for comments he made raising human rights concerns about the treatment of the Yazidi community. Individual Yazidis occasionally reported experiencing discrimination, including in cases involving property disputes. Residents of some Yazidi villages in Aragatsotn Region viewed the poor socio-economic situation of the villages, lack of roads, water, and other infrastructure as indirect discrimination. There were isolated reports of societal discrimination through graffiti using pejorative terms against Yazidis.

The report describes in great detail the situation around the illegal persecution of Yazidi human rights activist Sashik Sultanian: "The trial of Yazidi human rights activist and head of "Yazidi Center for Human Rights" continued for a year, until he left the country in July. A court subsequently issued a warrant for his arrest, and in July 2021 he was charged with inciting national, racial or religious hatred for comments he made to a journalist ... (which he clearly stated were 'off the record') criticising the treatment of Yazidis in Armenia, the journalist secretly recorded the human rights defender's speech and then published it. International human rights organizations considered Sultanian's statements to be clear examples of legitimate protected speech and considered this harassment to be malicious and a threat to democracy. According to human rights defenders, the prosecution was unable to prove any malicious acts or wrongdoing by Sultanian. The case materials showed that Sultanian had been under observation by the Armenian security services prior to the interview on suspicion of connections with foreign secret services and a threat to the constitutional order. The materials of the case and the prosecution questioned the typical aspects of Sultanian's activities, such as revealing discrimination problems in international forums, collecting data on discrimination against Yazidis during COVID-19 and receiving international grants for human rights activities. According to human rights activists, the prosecution has had a particularly hindering effect on national minorities. According to Yazidi Center for Human Rights, Sultanian left the country because of "illegal" persecution and threats to his physical safety. The continued prosecution during the year also raised concerns about the lack of oversight of the National Security Service."

The report noted that NGO members also continued to report threats against them: "Intimidation continued to come from Internet trolls, media, malicious news agencies and nationalist groups, many of which were linked to the previous government and, according to some local experts, to Russian figures. Those who promoted human rights, children's and women's rights were particularly affected..."

According to observers: "The perpetrators sought to vilify, discredit and marginalize democracy and human rights-oriented civil society, and replace them with other 'civil society' actors who support authoritarianism. According to Human Rights House (HRH), a relatively recent trend, identified in 2021, where nationalist campaigns against human rights defenders continued throughout the year. Such campaigns included the filing of complaints against human rights defenders based on false allegations of alleged crimes. The intention was to divert the energy and attention of HRDs from their legitimate work, and according to HRH, the spread of false allegations had a significant chilling effect on HRDs and their work.

In June, attorneys Tigran Atanesyan and Margarita Gyulumyan petitioned the court of general jurisdiction to immediately liquidate the Open Society Foundation-Armenia on the grounds that the foundation had deviated from the goals envisioned in its charter and that its activities threatened state and public security. In August, the court declared the complaint admissible, and the case was pending further review. The foundation and other credible human rights activists and civil society insisted that the complaint only sought to harass and discredit the work of human rights defenders in the country.

www.state.gov/reports





Tags: #yazidisinfo   #newsyazidis   #aboutyazidis   #reportarmenia   #humanrights