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On September 30, during the Autumn Session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) the Armenian delegation initiated an unprecedented event entitled If the Human Rights are Universal: Forgotten People of ‘Grey Zones.’

The main speakers were the Human Rights Defender of Artsakh Artak Beglaryan and the Former PACE Vice President, the Former Head of France-Armenia Parliamentary Friendship Group René Rouquet.

The hall was crowded, the MPs of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, representatives of the CoE Secretariat, experts, diplomats and representatives of the Armenian community attended the Session.

In his opening remarks the Head of the RA NA Delegation to PACE Ruben Rubinyan quoted the Resolution Unlimited access to member States, including “grey zones,” by Council of Europe and United Nations human rights monitoring bodies and has noted that the rights of the people living in the so called “grey zones” in such well-known organizations as the UN, the CoE, etc. In his word, he particularly has stressed: “The Universal Declaration of Human Rights establishes that the execution of human rights and fundamental freedoms should not depend on the status of the territory, where the people reside. The human rights by their nature are universal, and when it refers to their protection, monitoring and evaluation, ignored territories and forgotten people should not be.”

In his speech the Head of the NA Delegation also touched upon the role of the international community in the protection of the rights of the people living on those territories, stressing the necessity of the right and in time assessment and undertaking of counteracting means.

The next speaker of the meeting, the Human Rights Defender of Artsakh Artak Beglaryan presented the reasons of the human rights being ignored in the states still not received international recognition, the real consequences and influence on the human life. He emphasized that the access of the relevant organizations, as well as the CoE Commissioner of Human Rights to such states should be free. Artak Beglaryan presented the motivations of some CoE member states aimed at blocking the monitoring mechanisms.

According to the speaker, the international community should have greater role in this issue. He underlined that the absence of the international recognition should have minimum impact on the protection of human rights, otherwise the international organizations should not speak about the principle of universality of human rights.

The Human Rights Defender has informed that despite the isolation policy being pursued by Azerbaijan Artsakh assumed international obligations, unilaterally joining the European Convention on Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms of the Council of Europe, a number of the UN International Treaty, as well as the Geneva Conventions. Artak Beglaryan highlighted that irrespective of international status the Artsakh authorities and the society would continue to strengthen the already functioning mechanisms, providing the decent protection of human rights in Artsakh.

In his turn the Former PACE Vice President René Rouquet talked about the isolation policy of Artsakh by Azerbaijan and called on the international community to realize the priority of human rights, including the context of the peaceful settlement of the problems.