be criticized and condemned by state authorities to prevent disruption of harmony and solidarity between different groups in society, discriminatory treatment and violence.
Measures taken by the State to address Hate Crimes Measures taken with respect to legislative regulations According to OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), hate crimes are criminal acts committed with a bias motive.60 Therefore, the first element of a hate crime is that an act is committed that constitutes an offense under ordinary criminal law, and the second element of a hate crime is that the criminal act is committed with a particular motive, a bias, hatred, intolerance. Hate crime legislation derives from human rights obligations, such as equality, the elimination of discrimination, torture, inhuman or degrading treatment, respect for privacy and family life. The victim’s SOGI is often the cause of crime in the Armenian reality.61 The Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia does not provide for the definition of hate crime, as well as effective mechanisms for their identification and responsibility. It should be noted that Article 63 of the Criminal Code provides for criminal responsibility and circumstances aggravating the crime and punishment. Point 6 of Part 1 of the Code indicates: “Committing a crime motivated by revenge based on ethnic, racial or religious hatred, religious fanaticism.”62 The principle of legality laid down in the Criminal Code stipulates that the provisions of the Criminal Code are prohibited by analogy, crimes based on SOGI are not considered in the light of this article and are rather considered as ordinary crimes. The regulations on hate crimes may be different in domestic law. Pink finds it necessary to advocate for defining the bias of SOGI as circumstances aggravating the crimes and punishment. Recommendations aimed at developing and implementing mechanisms to ensure a full, impartial and thorough investigation of hate crimes based on sexual orientation and gender identity, have been presented to the RA Government numerous times. Such recommendations have also been provided by several international human rights organizations and are continuous. Some developments have been seen in this respect in 2021 as well. In its concluding observations adopted by the Human Rights Committee at its 105th session, the Committee mentions,63 that Armenia should ensure that its definition of discrimination covers all forms of discrimination as set out in the Covenant (race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, 60 OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), “Hate Crime Laws։ A practical Guide”, Warsaw, Poland, 2009 61 Pink Armenia, Hate Crimes and Other Hate Motivated Incidents against LGBT People in Armenia: From Theory to Reality. https://www.pinkarmenia.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/hate-crime-monitoring-2016_en.pdf. 62 RA Criminal Code, article 63, 2003. http://www.arlis.am/DocumentView.aspx?DocID=108718 63 UN Human Rights Committee (HRC), UN Human Rights Committee: Concluding Observations Armenia CCPR/C/ARM/CO/2, 105th Session, 9-27 July 2012. http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Countries/ENACARegion/ Pages/AMIndex.aspx
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