Ara Papyan confesses
"This is the case when the less they write, the better," says diplomat Ara Papyan, referring to the 63-page part related to the RA Ombudsman in the U.S. State Department's report on Armenia. "The allusion shows that the Americans are right," says Papyan with regret.
Papyan doesn't share the views that human rights are the given country's issue. "They have not been a country's domestic issue for a long time. Unfortunately, Armenians don't perceive that unlike other countries, for Armenia the issue of human rights is of vital importance. There are many dictatorial countries that can maintain their country with gas and petrol sales. Armenia doesn't have that opportunity. Armenia's only course is to maintain the country with the flow of humans and capital through the rule of law and inviolable democracy. Perhaps then we will be able to confront the growing dangers."
The diplomat finds that as long as the Armenian authorities and the society in general haven't perceived the protection of human rights as something of vital importance and the most efficient way of governance, Armenia will not be able to ensure progress. "I confess that I personally still haven't come to that conclusion."
Papyan confesses that he used to think that a person's rights could be restricted for the sake of general interests in a certain stage of social development. "But experience has shown that that is not the case. Since the society is composed of individuals, the violation of one person's human rights leads to the violation of the rights of an entire society. Armenia simply doesn't have an alternative because there is no future without the protection of human rights."
