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“The theme and the focus of the conference are timely and well-chosen providing an ample opportunity for addressing the challenges faced by Christians and members of other religious groups,” Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian said in his remarks delivered at the conference “Preventing and Countering Hate Crimes against Christians and Members of other Religious Groups - Perspectives from the OSCE and beyond” in Yerevan.

The top Armenian official singed out several reasons that contribute to the importance of this conference for Armenia.

“First, historically being situated on the crossroads of different civilizations Armenia has cultivated deeply rooted traditions of coexistence and respect towards other cultures and religions. Being the first nation to adopt Christianity as a state religion, Armenians stand among the foundations of the Christian civilization. We always have had very strong relations with Muslim nations and states, as well as with others. As a nation that has communities in around hundred countries of the World Armenians have first-hand knowledge on the value of tolerance and on the problems of discrimination and hate speech. We consider this Conference in Yerevan as an opportunity for presenting and sharing our national experiences.

Second, being historically persecuted in their homeland under foreign domination, including based on the religious grounds, after rejoining the family of sovereign states Armenians cannot close eyes to the sufferings of those who continue to experience religious discrimination and hate-motivated crimes.

We actively contribute to the international efforts aimed at preventing identity based discrimination and violence. Our most recent initiatives in this regard include the adoption of the resolution on Genocide prevention at the UN Human Rights Council in 2015 and the adoption in the same year of the resolution on International Day of commemoration of the victims of genocide at the UN General Assembly. These efforts will continue.

Countering hate speech, intolerance and xenophobia was one of the main priorities of Armenia during its Chairmanship of the Council of Europe in 2013. At the wake of terrorist activities of Daesh and other terrorist groups, Armenia has been among the first in the United Nations and the OSCE to raise the issue of protection of religious and ethnic groups and strongly advocate for the strengthening of the international commitments in this regard.

Third, the hosting of this conference in Armenia is a further step in our efforts to raise awareness on the plight of endangered religious groups. I recall the two high level events on "Supporting the Rights of Christians, particularly in the Middle East" and on “Mutual Respect and Peaceful Coexistence as a Condition of Interreligious Peace and Stability: Supporting Christians and other Communities”, held respectively in 2015 and 2017 in Geneva in the frameworks of the UN Human Rights Council, co-organized by Armenia, Russia, Holy See and Lebanon alongside with other partner countries.

We have also supported the initiatives of on streamlining issue of protection of religious and ethnic groups in the Middle East. Armenia contributed to the International Conference on the Victims of Ethnic and Religious Violence in the Middle East, in Paris in 2015 and the Conference on victims of ethnic and religious violence, in Madrid this June.

Armenia has also focused on the plight of refugees and migrants from the vulnerable groups of the Middle East during such recent international events as the 2016 UN Summit to Address Large Movements of Refugees and Migrants, 2016 Leaders' Summit on Refugees, 2017 OSCE Mediterranean conference on large movements of migrants and refugees,” the minister said in his statement.

Edward Nalbandian also highlighted the key role of civil society groups and organizations in the fight against discrimination and intolerance.

“I hope that the two-day ODIHR workshop, which took place in Yerevan prior to this conference helped to further identify the areas where the civil society can contribute with its added value to counter hatred and bias motivated violence against Christians and other religious groups. I am glad to note the wide presence at this conference of representatives of the civil society from different religious backgrounds,” he added.