Belgium implements EU Ban on Genocide Denial; Stirs up Controversy

A controversy arose in Belgium just days before this year’s April 24 commemorations on a proposed ban on the denial of mass crimes. The controversy centered on the scheduled adoption, on April 24, of legislation to prohibit the denial of genocides, war crimes and crimes against humanity. The proposed 

prohibition was limited to acts which risked leading to discrimination, hatred or violence. The draft law was controversial in that it effectively excluded from its scope such crimes as the Armenian genocide of 1915 and the genocides committed during the following years on the Arameans/Assyrians and the Pontic Greeks of the Ottoman empire.

A controversial proposal

 

Several Members of the Belgian Parliament protested the draft law. Among them, the Christian Democrat Georges Dallemagne stated the obvious: «We can either allow the freedom to deny all genocides, or ban their denial, but we must put all these crimes on the same footing”...read more

Pashinyan visits the Council of Europe in Strasbourg

• Armenian PM thanks the Council of Europe for its record of supporting democracy
• Armenian PM urges involvement to support the population of Artsakh

After visiting the European institutions in Brussels in March, Armenia’s Prime Minister paid his first visit to the Council of Europe, in Strasbourg, on April 10 and 11 (1). This visit included a speech to the Council’s Parliamentary Assembly, which comprises members of parliament from all 47 Member States, and a meeting with the Council’s Secretary General, Thorbjorn Hagland. The occasions was used by the Armenian PM mainly to communicate his views on the organisation’s role in establishing democracy in Armenia and on the conflict of Nagorno-Karabakh...read more

 
On May 13 & 14, the EU and 6 of its Eastern Neighbours are celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Eastern Partnership Policy. 

For the occasion, the leaders of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine will hold a special anniversary Summit with their EU counterparts to mark the event. There will also be a number of associated events, including a celebratory concert, a dinner hosted by EU president Donald Tusk and a Civil Society Conference.

The EaP was launched in 2009 to reinforce relations between the EU and its Eastern neighbours. It is more a process than a policy however: neither a policy in the conventional sense, nor an organization, it has elements of both and essentially helps bring together all 34 countries. The process mobilizes the EU’s economic power of attraction, its soft power and its administrative capacity to pursue common goals, such as economic integration with the EU’s Eastern partners and the development in partner countries of political institutions and economic governance that are compatible with, and inspired by the EU.....read more

Armenians have much at stake in the EU, and much to contribute. AGBU's European Policy Highlights tell the story of that work in progress. It is written for all those who wish to understand a changing world from the point of view of a small nation and to shape
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