Homophobic violence openly condoned by certain Armenian members of Parliament

Written declaration No. 527 | Doc. 12990 | 27 June 2012

Signatories:

Mr Jonas GUNNARSSON, Sweden, SOC ; Ms Tina ACKETOFT, Sweden, ALDE ; Mr José Antonio ALONSO, Spain, SOC ; Lord Donald ANDERSON, United Kingdom, SOC ; Mr Lennart AXELSSON, Sweden, SOC ; Mr Michael CONNARTY, United Kingdom, SOC ; Andreja ČRNAK MEGLIČ, Slovenia, SOC ; Mr Geraint DAVIES, United Kingdom, SOC ; Mr Don DAVIES, Canada ; Mr Jim DOBBIN, United Kingdom, SOC ; Ms Jana FISCHEROVÁ, Czech Republic, EDG ; Mr Jean-Charles GARDETTO, Monaco, EPP/CD ; Ms Carina HÄGG, Sweden, SOC ; Kent HÄRSTEDT, Sweden, SOC ; Mr Håkon HAUGLI, Norway, SOC ; Mr Ramón JÁUREGUI, Spain, SOC ; Mr Mogens JENSEN, Denmark, SOC ; Ms Kerstin LUNDGREN, Sweden, ALDE ; Sir Alan MEALE, United Kingdom, SOC ; Ms Federica MOGHERINI REBESANI, Italy, SOC ; Melita MULIĆ, Croatia, SOC ; Ms Carina OHLSSON, Sweden, SOC ; Ms Lajla PERNASKA, Albania, EPP/CD ; Mr Luc RECORDON, Switzerland, SOC ; Mr Jim SHERIDAN, United Kingdom, SOC ; Mr Björn von SYDOW, Sweden, SOC ; Mr Nikolaj VILLUMSEN, Denmark, UEL ; Ms Nataša VUČKOVIĆ, Serbia, SOC ; Ms Gisela WURM, Austria, SOC

Thesaurus

This written declaration does not reflect the position of the Assembly; only of those members that have signed it. It will not be considered further by the Assembly.

On May 8 an LGBT friendly bar in Yerevan was firebombed. Two of the arsonists have been arrested.

Certain Armenian MPs have openly condoned the arson attack. One is reported to have stated that the attack was completely “right and justified”, and to have claimed that those who support the rights of LGBT Armenians "are perverting our society, are defaming the Armenian national identity." Two others paid the bail of one of the arsonists. One of these MPs is reported to have asserted that the arsonists "acted in accordance with our society's values and national ideology", although adding that "it was wrong to cause material damage".

We call upon the Armenian authorities to publicly repudiate such statements, to ensure that the perpetrators are brought to justice and to put in place measures to protect LGBT people from violence and discrimination and to counteract homophobic and transphobic attitudes in society, in accordance with the Committee of Ministers Recommendation on measures to combat discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation or gender identity.