State policy aimed at regulating hate speech

atmosphere of fear, psychologically depressed, under constant threat. It is also important to estimate the reach of the hate speech and its spread among the public, which may be conditioned both by the fact of the location of its publicizing and whether it was widely spread through the mass media or not. The spread of such a word by the media should receive a legal assessment as well. After all, hate speech must be real and clear, that is, the expressions used in the speech must either contain clear hostility, insult due to a certain feature, calls for violence, discrimination, or must be perceived as such. Its ambiguous perception reduces the degree of dangerousness.

State policy aimed at regulating hate speech

Since 2019, the state policy aimed at addressing hate speech has changed significantly in the Republic of Armenia. If in the past the author of hate speech was mainly the representatives of the ruling political forces62, then since the “velvet revolution” of 2018, hate speech is more often used by the deputies of the opposition factions represented in the National Assembly, the representatives of those parties and non-officials. In the name of freedom of speech, words that degrade the dignity of a certain group of people, violate the right to respect for private and family life, and sometimes contain calls for violence are often used. Such words are used by politicians to create negative moods and attitudes in the society against the ruling political power, exploiting any step aimed at protecting the rights of vulnerable groups. Such speculations are carried out by manipulative methods, often in combination with facts that do not correspond to reality. The target of hate speech in Armenia is mainly LGBT people63, the reason being the stereotypical attitudes towards this group of people in the Armenian society. The danger of hate speech spread by the Members of Parliament lies not only in the trust and authority in the society, as well as in the influence of the speech uttered by them but also in the fact that they are officials with legislative power. Public figures, lecturers, and clergy are the authors of less dangerous hate speech. As a propagator of hate speech, members of some non-governmental organizations, especially, initiatives are particularly active, which are aimed at discrediting the ruling party and manipulating the issues of LGBT people for that purpose. The activities of these groups are presented with examples in the following sections. Back in 2019, on the initiative of the Ministry of Justice, the National Strategy for the Protection of Human Rights, and the resulting action plan 2020-2022 were developed, which included the need for legislation to ban hate speech based on the research of international experience. As a result of the process launched in 2019, a Working Group on Reform of Hate Speech Legislation was formed by the deputies of the “My Step” faction who were also members of the Committee on Human Rights and Public Affairs of the National Assembly, and representatives of civil society organizations and experts have been invited to be members of this group as well64. At the same time, the RA Ministry of Justice submitted a draft amendment to the

62 Pink Human Rights Defender NGO. “Hate Speech Displayed by State Officials Towards LGBT People in Armenia During 2004-2018”. 2019. https://www.pinkarmenia.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/ hatespeech_en.pdf. 63 Hate Speech Monitoring (pilot program) report, Armenia Helsinki Committee, 2018-2019. https://bit. ly/2OdLBDtt. 64 The Extraordinary Sitting of the RA National Assembly Standing Committee on Protection of Human Rights and Public Affairs moderated by Naira Zohrabyan was held, where the Committee Member Sargis