Statement in response to the address by the Chair of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance as delivered by Ambassador Andranik Hovhannisyan at the 1506th meeting of the Permanent Council

30 January, 2025

Mr. Chairman,

The Delegation of Armenia warmly welcomes the Chair of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance to the Permanent Council and thanks for his address.

As we mark the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, we remember and honor millions of victims of the Holocaust – children, women and men on whom atrocious suffering and injustice were inflicted by a monstrous machinery of mass murder. The Holocaust was not merely an event in history; it was a profound moral failure, a devastating example of what can happen when intolerance and dehumanization are allowed to fester.

The empathy of the Armenian nation, like any people that have suffered and survived, is authentic. Our compassion is steadfast and inclusive. We know firsthand that emerging from history’s darkest hours and healing from profound pain takes extraordinary strength.

Our shared memory was further marked by acts of solidarity and humanity. A number of Armenians have been recognized as “Righteous Among the Nations” by Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust memorial, for risking their lives to aid Jewish people during the Holocaust. Furthermore, around 600,000 Armenians fought against the Nazis, with half of them making the ultimate sacrifice.

Today, the U.S. State Department’s International Religious Freedom Report highlights a growing Jewish population in Armenia, supported by the emergence of a new Jewish civil society organization.

Mr. Chairman,

The horrors that the humanity suffered in the twentieth century led to the adoption of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, and to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. They also inspired the European Convention on Human Rights and other core documents that continue to protect us from tyranny and oppression.

Yet, the promise of “never again” remains unfulfilled.The intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group persists, particularly amid the erosion of international security arrangements and human rights mechanisms.

Mass atrocities do not happen in a vacuum. They are usually preceded or accompanied by statements by political leaders and public figures that express support for the affirmation of superiority of a race or an ethnic group, dehumanize and demonize others, disseminate hostility and prejudice, or condone or justify violence against them. They can evolve incrementally in its gravity, including through violations of international human rights and international humanitarian laws, disruption of critical infrastructure, siege, starvation and massive violence. Needless to say, many mass atrocities could have been prevented if early warning signals were identified during those phases.

Collective failure should not be a justification for individual inaction for each and every member of the international community.

Armenia has been trying through its persistent and principled actions to contribute to the international efforts on Genocide prevention. Armenia is the penholder of the biannual “Genocide prevention” resolutions at the UN Human Rights Council. In 2015 upon our initiative at the UN GA, December 9 was declared as the International Day of Commemoration and Dignity of the Victims of the Crime of Genocide and of the Prevention of this Crime.

In 2008 Armenia was one of the initiators of the OSCE Ministerial Declaration on the 60th anniversary of the Genocide Convention. It recognized “that genocide is one of the most serious crimes under international law, which is condemned by international community as a whole and can never be justified.”

Thank you.

MFA RA
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