YEREVAN. – The rise of hate speech is something which worries me very much.
Ambassador Piotr Świtalski, Head of the Delegation of the European Union (EU) to Armenia, noted the above-said in an interview with Mediamax news agency.
In his words, hate speech is a common scorch, a common evil.
“Hate speech is very detrimental to political culture. It kills democracy,” Świtalski added. “In the countries that now embark on a new chapter of their history in terms of building political culture and democratic institutions especially, it is very important that the manifestations of hate speech are addressed, managed, prevented and combated.
“We are talking a day after the death of the Mayor of [Poland’s] Gdansk [city], Pawel Adamowicz, who was a friend of Armenia and visited Armenia several times. He is a victim of hate. His death is another testimony to the fact that violent speech can lead to political violence. His death proves that hate speech should be addressed at the very early stage, because verbal hate can very easily transcend into physical violence.
“We organized a special event in Armenia to talk about hate speech, in particular on social media. We had a very good seminar and we are really determined to continue our discussion.”
He informed that the EU concluded a code of conduct with the major social networks concerning combating the hate speech.
“I invite the Armenian government to review the existing legislation to see whether it can be improved,” the EU envoy said. “Some European countries have very advanced system of norms against hate speech, and we are very committed to help the Armenian government and other stakeholders – politicians, civil society, and journalists – to combat hate speech.
“At the same time, Armenia is still very far from the most worrying manifestations of hate speech than in other countries. The electoral debates in Armenia were very diplomatic and civilized as compared with the debates in other countries, including some members of the EU, where the negative emotions have already become very pervasive in political discourse. Here in Armenia my suggestion is to act before it is too late.”
