Armenia: rights defenders treat national minorities’ discrimination as major problem

The lack of an anti-discrimination law in Armenia, the situation of national minorities and the problems of school education urgently require their solution by the state. This opinion was expressed by authors of the alternative report of the Anti-Discrimination Centre (ADC) "Memorial" and the Institute of Civil Society. On April 27, the report was presented at the session of the UN Special Committee, reports Stefaniya Kulaeva, a member of the ADC "Memorial".

According to Stefaniya Kulaeva, the alternative report on discrimination in Armenia points to three main problems.

"First of all, we point out the lack of an anti-discrimination law in the state. Till present, it has not yet been adopted in Armenia," said Stefaniya Kulaeva. And she continued: "And secondly, we have expressed the concern over the situation of ethnic and religious minorities in Armenia."

Stefaniya Kulaeva has also noted that among ethnic and religious minorities, "those groups that do not have their country of origin" are particularly distinguished.

"They are the Yezidis and the almost vanishing group of Bosha, the Assyrians and the Kurds. The situation of each of those ethnic groups in Armenia is difficult or at least worrisome," said Stefaniya Kulaeva.

She has noted that according to the ADC "Memorial", the third problem is in school education.

"The compulsory course of the history of the Armenian church has been introduced in the education system. Meanwhile, the school course itself is to be accredited by clergy of a parish of the ArmenianApostolicChurch. It is unacceptable that in the sphere of school education, the decisive word is to be pronounced by representatives of a different field of activity. After all, people professing other religion do not have the opportunity to get an education without studying the history of the Armenian church," said Stefaniya Kulaeva.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.