The Project “Promoting Equality and Non-Discrimination in Armenia” gathered its main partners and beneficiaries to present and discuss the main activities and achievements in the areas of anti-discrimination and combating hatred in the period of March 2024 – May 2025. The Technical Committee meeting allowed Project’s partners share their views and ideas for activities until the remaining period of the Project, highlighting most urgent needs and areas of co-operation. The meeting was followed by the presentation of the Recommendation CM/Rec(2022)16 of the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers to member States on combating hate speech. A discussion touched upon its application in the Armenian context.

The partners and beneficiaries expressed their gratitude to the Council of Europe and the European Union for the activities organized in the last 12 months, including 10 essential trainings, workshops, seminars and other important deliverables during the aforementioned period. These included the involvement of more than 300 participants, including law enforcement authorities, journalists, legal professionals, civil society sector representatives, and the staff of the Human Rights Defender’s Office. They all that gained knowledge and skills to implements European standards in the field of anti-discrimination in their daily life contributing to awareness raising and better protection of all citizens of Armenia. During the meeting, both national state institutions and CSOs, partnering with the Project, dialogued over the possibilities of following up activities to ensure consistency and continuity of the joint efforts and endeavours.

The Technical Committee meeting was followed by the analysis of the Recommendation CM/Rec(2022)16 on combating hate speech (English, Armenian), presented by the Council of Europe’s experts to the Project partners, representatives of embassies and international institutions. The Recommendation pursues a comprehensive approach to preventing and combating hate speech. This presentation holistically examined the Recommendation, emphasising how the latter utilises a comprehensive approach to addressing hate speech within a Human Rights Framework. It provided  participants with the opportunity to learn more about the roles and responsibilities of various actors in implementing it and some practical ideas for action and improvement in this field.

The meetings were organised in the framework of the  project “Promoting equality and non-discrimination in Armenia”, co-funded by the European Union and the Council of Europe, and implemented by the Council of Europe in their joint programme “Partnership for Good Governance”.