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On May 19, the Member of the RA NA delegation to PACE Armen Gevorgyan gave a speech during the debate of PACE Activity Programme of Parliamentarians’ Network for Healthy Environment

“Dear colleagues,

The issue of the interconnectedness between environment and human rights is becoming one of the most relevant. I thank the chairperson for very useful and informative presentation. I like the delivery approach that chair presented as core for the productive work of our network. In this regard I would suggest to include the investigation component as one of the main principles of the network.

Therefore, I would suggest that special attention be paid to the problem of a healthy, clean and safe environment in the context of unresolved conflicts. There we have the most obvious violations of human rights and challenging safe environmental situations. I draw your attention to the increasing practice of using so-called prohibited weapons in different parts of the world, in particular phosphorus bombs. In recent years, there have been statements of their use at least in 9 countries. I hope everybody here knows the terrible consequences of such bombs for human's lives and the nature. I do not have any information on international investigations into the facts of the use of such prohibited weapons and developed road maps to eliminate this practice.

Colleagues,

We must clearly follow the logic of one of the latest PACE Resolution, which says: “that realizing genuine democracy is not only a commitment of each Member State towards their citizens but also a responsibility to other member States.”We are witnessing the situations where natural resources are used by one member-state to exert moral and psychological pressure on the local population of another state.

Some states of our region use water resources to achieve their long-term geopolitical interests creating problems for millions of people. In all cases, we have problem not only with the decrease of the quality of life of humans, violations of their basic rights, but also with real environmental deterioration. Those are situations on the ground where the human rights and real environmental issues are deeply interconnected.

If network will not pay attention to the real situation on the ground and avoid investigations, it will not meet its main goals.” the deputy underlined.