INTRODUCTION

2019 has set in motion events that would later change societal relations, ways of organizing work, and provide a reasonable basis for restricting essential human rights such as freedom of movement and assembly. The coronavirus infection detected in China spread around the world in 2020, with various countries enacting restrictions on the normal course of life through legislative changes. At the beginning of the spring of 2020, a state of emergency was declared in Armenia to prevent the development of the epidemic2 This initiated the process of isolating individuals, maintaining physical distance in in-person communication, replacing some types of work with remote work, restriction on traveling, moving around as little as possible, and always wearing protective equipment. 2020 was marked by another negative event for Armenia: on September 27th, a largescale war was unleashed in the direction of Artsakh and Armenia by the Azerbaijani authorities with the support of Turkey. It led to the death of civilians, numerous military losses, and captives of the Armenian side, as well as civilian settlements, civilian infrastructure, cultural facilities, and first aid facilities, were targeted by military attacks. The war was over with territorial losses by the Armenian side. It seemed that the public and government would be concerned with these potential issues and the hatred towards lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans (LGBT) people would be pushed to the background, and sexual orientation, gender identity (SOGI), and gender-based discrimination would be reduced. However, the current year has shown that these humanitarian expectations were in vain. In 2020 discrimination based on SOGI continued, since hate speech was spread on social networks, media, and other Internet platforms. The number of human rights violation cases registered by the organization in 2020 was 40. The escalating geopolitical situation also led to some difficulties during the investigation of these cases, slowing down the investigation of criminal cases due to lack of priority and wait for the end of the epidemic. This report presents the significant developments that have taken place in Armenia in terms of ensuring the human rights of LGBT people during 2020. The substantive part of the report presents the violations based on SOGI combined with discrimination in 2020. It includes the obligations of the state to prevent these violations, to protect the victims, as well as the response of law enforcement agencies and the attitude towards LGBT people. Violations of the rights of LGBT people to be free from torture, inhuman or degrading treatment, privacy, family life, honor and reputation, education, employment, and violations of other rights were reported. The state, on the one hand, failed to provide a non-discriminatory environment for the realization of the rights of LGBT people, on the other hand, failed to restore the violated rights of LGBT people through proper investigation. LGBT people were mocked and humiliated by the law enforcement officers, moreover, there have been cases of law enforcement revealing information about same-sex relationships and other details on their personal life. The rest of the content of the report concerns hate speech. It includes an analysis of hate speech in the direction of regulation of state policy, legislative changes, regulation

2 Decision of the government of the Republic of Armenia. “On declaring a State of Emergency in the Republic of Armenia”. March 16, 2020, decision No. 298-N. https://www.arlis.am/DocumentView. aspx?docid=145261.

of hate speech expressed by state authorities and other public figures. The report is summed up with conclusions on the events that have taken place, with recommendations to state institutions, the media, and international organizations. The Annex section of the report discusses the course and developments of strategic litigations initiated by Pink.