On November 12-14 in Yerevan international conference "Human Rights Protection as a Basis for Interethnic Accord" was held. The conference was organized under the regional project "South Caucasus Network for Civil Accord", supported by the European Commission. Financial assistance to the event was provided by Friedrich Naumann Foundation. The two-year project has been implemented since last September by British East-West Centre, nine non-governmental organizations of Armenia (Yerevan Press Club, Armenian Sociological Association, Armenian Committee of Helsinki Citizens Assembly), Azerbaijan ("Yeni Nesil” Journalists Union of Azerbaijan, Azerbaijan Foundation for the Development of Democracy, Entrepreneurship Development Foundation), Georgia (“BS Press” Association, International Center for Conflictology and Negotiations, Center for Development and Cooperation) and two German funds – Friedrich Ebert and Friedrich Naumann Foundations.
The conference in Yerevan was the second out of the six similar events, envisaged by the project. The first one, devoted to the transformation of conflicts in South Caucasus, was held in December last year in Tbilisi (see YPC Weekly Newsletter, December 8-14, 2001).
Over 40 participants of the conference, representing non-governmental associations and media of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Germany, international organizations and diplomatic missions operating in Armenia, discussed the human rights situation in the countries of South Caucasus and the region as such, the general trends for peace and civil accord attainment. The presentation of the representatives of Council of Europe and OSCE were devoted to the honoring of the international commitments by the countries of South Caucasus and their integration into the European space.
The results of sociological researches on human rights issues, conducted by common methodology in May-September 2002 in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia, as well as the data of content analysis of media coverage on the issue in the three countries were presented at the conference.
On November 14 "Press Club" TV talk show was produced on the subject addressed by the conference. In the first program of "Press Club" series the issue of the conflict in South Caucasus was discussed. This program was aired by "Prometheus" TV company on the eve of the conference in Yerevan.
