Written declaration No. 420 | Doc. 11819 | 29 January 2009

Intolerance and hate speech in Azerbaijan

Signatories: Ms Naira ZOHRABYAN, Armenia ; Mr Avet ADONTS, Armenia ; Mr Artsruni AGHAJANYAN, Armenia ; Mr Roland BLUM, France, EPP/CD ; Mr Vladimiro CRISAFULLI, Italy, SOC ; Mr Nigel EVANS, United Kingdom ; Mr Giuseppe GALATI, Italy, EPP/CD ; Mr Marcel GLESENER, Luxembourg ; Mr Davit HARUTYUNYAN, Armenia, EDG ; Mr Ivan Nikolaev IVANOV, Bulgaria ; Mr Bjørn JACOBSEN, Norway ; Ms Kateřina JACQUES, Czech Republic ; Mr Jean-Pierre KUCHEIDA, France, SOC ; Mr Arthur LOEPFE, Switzerland ; Mr Aleksei LOTMAN, Estonia, UEL ; Ms Milica MARKOVIĆ, Bosnia and Herzegovina, SOC ; Mr Bernard MARQUET, Monaco, ALDE ; Mr Jean-Claude MIGNON, France, EPP/CD ; Ms Hermine NAGHDALYAN, Armenia, ALDE ; Mr Hryhoriy OMELCHENKO, Ukraine ; Ms Antigoni PAPADOPOULOS, Cyprus ; Ms Lajla PERNASKA, Albania, EPP/CD ; Mr François ROCHEBLOINE, France, EPP/CD ; Mr René ROUQUET, France ; Mr Giacinto RUSSO, Italy, ALDE ; Mr Armen RUSTAMYAN, Armenia, SOC

This written declaration commits only those who have signed it.

Whereas the Council of Europe remains committed to working together for reconciliation and political solutions in the unresolved conflicts in Europe,

Whereas the international community continues to invest considerable efforts in achieving durable and negotiated peace and reconciliation in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,

Whereas the prevalence of expressions of hate speech targeting specific populations are a precipitating factor for the outbreak of violence and the commitment of crimes against humanity, including the crime of genocide,

Whereas the authorities of Azerbaijan consistently incite, encourage and tolerate widespread manifestations of intolerance and hate speech against Armenia, its people and persons of Armenian origin, including through the active contribution of the media,

Whereas numerous international credible monitoring bodies, including from within the Council of Europe, have expressed their serious concerns about such manifestations of intolerance and incitement to hatred in Azerbaijan;

We, the undersigned, urge the Government of Azerbaijan to end without delay their policies and acts of manifestations of intolerance and hate speech against Armenia, its people and persons of Armenian origin;

We call upon the monitoring mechanisms within the Assembly to pay particular attention to this issue and to include their findings in their subsequent reports.