EAFJD President expresses concern about  erosion of democracy in  Armenia at  OSCE/ODIHR, Vienna

ArmInfo.Kaspar Karampetian, President of the European Armenian Federation for Justice and Democracy (EAFJD), participated in the conference "Lawmaking for Democratic Resilience: Supplementary Humanitarian  Dimension Meeting I," held in Vienna on March 16- 17, 2026.

The conference, organized by the OSCE Office for Democratic  Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) under the Swiss OSCE  Chairmanship, brought together over 1,000 representatives of OSCE  Member States, international organizations, and civil society.  According to a report from the EAFJD received by ArmInfo, during the  plenary session, Karampetyan began by firmly refuting the claims of a  pro-government Azerbaijani NGO, which had attempted to use the  platform to spread slanderous accusations against the Armenian  people. The Azerbaijani NGO claimed that Armenian school textbooks  contain hate speech and historical disinformation directed against  Azerbaijanis.

Refuting these baseless claims, Karampetyan cited extensive evidence  presented by international human rights organizations and the  European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). He emphasized that Azerbaijan  and the Aliyev administration have been consistently condemned for  state-sponsored Armenophobia and  for using ethnic hatred as a tool.  Karampetyan pointed to landmark decisions and monitoring reports,  including the interim measures of the International Criminal Court,  which oblige Azerbaijan to prevent incitement to racial hatred and  protect ethnic Armenians from state discrimination. It is further  mentioned that the conference focused on how inclusive and  transparent legislative processes can serve as a safeguard against  democratic backsliding, requiring genuine participation from all  stakeholder groups and a robust system of checks and balances. In  this context, Karampetyan expressed serious concerns about the  current state of democracy in Armenia.

He particularly highlighted two critical issues: the erosion of  judicial independence and the marginalization of the opposition.  Karampetyan criticized the lack of meaningful judicial reform in  Armenia, noting that executive abuses have led to a significant  erosion of judicial independence. He argued that when the judiciary  follows the executive's lead, it ceases to function as a corrective  mechanism for overseeing legislation, undermining the very essence of  democratic lawmaking.

Regarding the Armenian authorities' attempts to marginalize the  opposition, he noted that the parliamentary opposition in Armenia is  constantly being sidelined from real decision-making and lawmaking  processes.  This lack of representation violates the OSCE's  principles of participatory democracy, which stipulate that all  political stakeholders must have a seat at the negotiating table to  ensure the legitimacy of national laws.

The Supplementary Human Dimension Meeting (SHDM) is an important OSCE  platform for assessing the implementation of human rights  commitments. The March 2026 meeting focused on the theme "Lawmaking  for Democratic Resilience," considering how inclusive debate,  independent oversight, and judicial review can prevent democratic  backsliding and strengthen public trust in state institutions.