HRD considers the targeting of civil society and human rights defenders unacceptable

The defender’s monitoring and alerts received from civil society partners indicate that the general political polarization has also led to intolerant approaches to the views of civil society representatives, various attempts to influence their independent positions and interfere with independent activities, the statement said.

Anahit Manasyan considers such phenomena very worrying and emphasizes that the existence of an independent, free and principled civil society is a necessary precondition for the legal state and effective protection of human rights.

“Civil society cannot be subject to any political influence and the independence and effectiveness of its activity cannot be evaluated in the context of fulfilling the will of political forces and other public actors or satisfying their wishes,” the statement said.

In today’s highly polarized environment, members of the public are targeted, attacked and labeled online whenever they express a point of view that does not please one political force or public actor. Along with the apparent expansion of the current field of free expression, this has de facto turned into a method of informal “censorship”, notes HRH.

Anahit Manasyan considers this situation unacceptable and emphasizes that all public actors should contribute to overcoming the situation, and the state should take a primary role in addressing the problem and making the environment safe for civil society activities aimed at strengthening the values ​​of the legal state.