Permanent Representative of Armenia to the UN, Mher Margaryan addressed the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSC) meeting on the elimination of racism, xenophobia and discrimination in the decade of action of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). As the Office of the Armenian Representative reported, Margaryan reminded that despite the calls for international solidarity to focus on peace and recovery, the past year has seen an unprecedented level of violence, war and human suffering. 

"Our region is one such example, where senseless, brutal violence and destruction disrupted the decades-long efforts for peace, development and human security. It was in blatant disregard to the Secretary-General’s appeal and in violation of the ceasefire agreement of 1994 that Azerbaijan chose to launch a pre-planned aggression against the people of Nagorno-Karabakh in the midst of the global health crisis, with the involvement of terrorists and mercenaries and with multiple instances of war crimes, atrocities, torture and extrajudicial killings of civilian hostages and prisoners of war, as well as desecration and destruction of the Armenian Christian heritage. This reckless violence unleashed against the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh in September 2020 represents an obvious culmination of the decades-long policy of nurturing identity-based hatred condoned and encouraged by the highest state authorities of Azerbaijan, who, for many years, have shown remarkable consistency in promoting Armenophobia and glorification of anti-Armenian hate crimes," MArgaryan said in his remarks. 

The Armenian diplomat noted that it would be an illusion to expect that the elimination of racism and xenophobia is possible in a country like Azerbaijan, where violations of fundamental human rights, lack of accountable institutions, systemic corruption and instigation of violence and hatred have become part of the usual course of things, as extensively reported by independent experts and international organizations.

Mher Margaryan, also named the rejection of an independent mission of experts of the UNESCO to draw an inventory of cultural properties in Nagorno-Karabakh, as yet another example of the policy that aims to reject everything Armenian, contrary to science, history, common sense and basic human decency. "These, along with the other manifestations of racism, bigotry and hate, combined with invention of distorted narratives as means of erasing every trace of the presence of the people in their ancient homeland further deepen the dividing lines and must be properly addressed by the international community," concluded Margaryan.