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Since 1948, democratic states have celebrated International Human Rights Day on December 10. This year, the day's slogan is "Our Rights, Our Future, Now."
The 26-year-old activity of the Helsinki Citizens' Assembly-Vanadzor is based on the principle of "for human rights and dignity." For years, the Organization, through its dedicated employees, has fought for the protection of the rights of every individual, for the restoration and compensation of violated rights.
After the forced displacement of 2023, the Organization began to provide extensive support to our compatriots forcibly displaced from Nagorno-Karabakh, more than 2,000 persons. In 2022, due to the war unleashed by the Russian Federation, a number of persons, subjected to repression, came to Armenia and, thanks to the legal support of HCAV, were not extradited to the Russian Federation and other authoritarian regimes.
In 2023 alone, HCAV submitted 56 legislative proposals, 23 of which were aimed at the draft of the new Action Plan for 2023-2025 stemming from the National Strategy on Human Rights Protection. Each year, HCAV provides legal support to an average of 200 conscripts, servicemen, persons equated to them, and 1,000 citizens whose rights are violated by the state. Over the past year, the European Court of Human Rights has delivered a judgment on 4 strategic cases of HCAV, three of which concerned the violation of the right to life related to the deaths of servicemen during mandatory military service, while one concerned the use of unlawful detention.
Although the Organization fights for the protection of human dignity and rights on a daily basis, our steps will not lead to systemic changes if there is no intolerance on the part of the authorities towards every violation of human rights, if the state does not properly fulfill its obligations in the field of human rights. In accordance with this year’s slogan, we must fight for human rights today to build our dignified future.