Speeches

RA Ombudsman’s Message on the Occasion of the International Day of Human Rights
12/12/08

Today it is possible to talk about two great but extremely different revolutions of the past twentieth century: the bolshevist revolution and ever-continuing revolution of human rights. The first one, fortunately, came to an end.  The second revolution – the revolution of human rights - proceeds, and although does not always win, constantly bears a hope on achievement at least some of its goals. Adopting the Declaration took place due to the consensus that had not happened in history before and which was attained in the moment of extraordinary political tensions and conflicts. This document created the modern understanding of human rights, encompassing fundamental rights of universal character. The Declaration was translated into over 360 languages, and the date of its adoption has become the day for annual celebration of the International Day of Human Rights.
Authors of the Declaration, from different cultures, intended that the Universal Declaration became a joint vision of a more equitable and peaceful world. It became the first international document to take as main pre-condition that human rights and fundamental freedoms are supposed to belong to everyone and everywhere. It became the first act in history that was not inspired by either winning revolutions or national liberation movements. It was the first one that appeared as a result of discussion at the international conference and which defined for decades the standards of fundamental, universal freedoms and human rights.
The Universal Declaration gives the content to the provisions of different United Nations conventions. It enumerates civil and political rights, as well as social, cultural and economic rights. Due to the international community's obligations under the Universal Declaration, nearly all of these rights have become part of customary international law. They are the foundation for the two U.N. Conventions concerning human rights. Subsequent international treaties and regional human rights conventions elaborate upon the Universal Declaration. The rights enumerated in the Universal Declaration and these conventions have also been integrated into the constitutions and national laws of many countries. The Armenian constitution itself reflects their influence.
The axiology of the Declaration is quite explicit: Article 1 asserts that all people are equal and free, because they are united by the same virtue of human dignity. It specifies also the rationality of human actions and the sense of duty to act honestly, in a spirit of fraternity. In its turn, Article 2 of the Declaration specifies that human rights are universal not because they are acknowledged by a certain state or international community, but because they belong to all humanity. These rights belong to everyone and everywhere. Article 7 refers to this reasoning, asserting that all people are equal before Law and that everybody has а right to protection from any form of discrimination.
This fight has been ongoing since the creation of the world, and each loss in it results in a catastrophe. With our presence here we are willing to renew the obligation of continuous creation of a better and a fairer world for all people.
What do I mean by democracy? According to my approach, democracy is a rich and complex normative concept. It rests on two bases. The first is the sovereignty of the people. This sovereignty is exercised in free elections held on a regular basis, in which the people choose their representatives, who in turn represent its views. This aspect of democracy is manifested in majority rule, and in the centrality of the legislative body through which the people's representatives act. This is a formal aspect of democracy.
The second aspect of democracy is reflected in the rule of values (other than the value of majority rule) which characterizes democracy. The most important of these are separation of powers, the rule of law, judicial independence which is reflected in such domains as morality and justice, the public peace and security, reasonableness and good faith. This aspect of democracy is the rule of democratic values. This is a substantive aspect of democracy.
Both aspects - the formal and the substantive - are necessary for democracy. A regime in which the people are not sovereign, and the legislative and executive branches do not represent it, is not a democratic regime. A regime devoid of the separation of powers, the rule of law, the independence of judges, human rights and fundamental values is not a democratic regime. Indeed, a regime in which the majority denies the minority of human rights is not a democratic regime.
Democracy's world is rich. It should not be viewed from a one-dimensional vantage point. Democracy is multidimensional. It is based both on the centrality of laws and separation of powers, and, in their center - human rights. Indeed, democracy is based on every individual's enjoyment of rights, of which even the majority can not deny him simply because the power of the majority is in its hands. Democracy has its own internal morality, without which the regime is no longer democratic.
The Post-soviet societies have appeared before a dilemma: either to find the concerted model of interaction of individual freedom, activity and initiative of an individual with the principle of limited rule of the state or to take the path of authoritarian model of strong power with alienation of the people from it. As yet, the cases of the use of power by nomenclature bureaucracy in its corporate interests are not infrequent, and it even more alienates society from authority - without guaranteeing the inviolability of civil rights of individuals.
In respect of the abovementioned, the cardinal problem of post-soviet countries remains their failure to provide stability of the society within the system of checks and balances of power structures, when constitutionalism becomes a real regime of relationships between the state and the civil society. So far, in majority of post-soviet countries stability is achieved through principle of preponderance in the system of power structures. And here it makes not matter in favor of which structure this preponderance is provided.
In this perspective, the question of the power system is closely related to the notion of freedom. Freedom is the inalienable essence of а human. Freedom can be realized only under the system of balances. All other forms of power – from anarchy through tyranny, represent various forms of preponderances.

Armen Harutyunyan,
The Human Rights Defender in the Republic of Armenia