On March 26-27, Deputy Foreign Minister Ashot Hovakimian participated in the high-level debate on “Victims of attacks and abuses on ethnic or religious grounds in the Middle East” organized by the UN Security Council.

Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Development of France Laurent Fabius chaired the discussion, attended by the UN Secretary-General, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Foreign Ministers of Spain, Austria, Canada and Lebanon, Deputy Foreign Ministers of the UK, Angola and Chile. Representatives of Christian and other communities of the Middle East were invited to participate in the debate.

In his remarks, Ashot Hovakimian mentioned that in the Middle East the international community faces a growing trend of massive human rights violations, especially against ethnic and religious groups, including Christians, Yazidis and other minorities. The Deputy Foreign Minister stressed, that the Armenians, as a nation which survived the Genocide, have moral responsibility to protect the collective and individual rights of the minorities.

On the margins of his visit to New York, Deputy Foreign Minister Ashot Hovakimian met Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme Helen Clark. Assessing the visit by the Administrator of the UNDP to Armenia in September 2014 efficient, the sides reflected on the final drafts of the United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF 2016-2020) and the new document of the UNDP for Armenia – Country Programme Document (CPD - 2016-2020).

Thoughts were exchanged over regional issues, expressing concern over the cases of growing violence against national, ethnic and religious minorities and civilians.