The RA NA Standing Committee on Protection of Human Rights and Public Affairs is discussing MP Rustam Bakoyan’s draft on Making Addendum to the RA Law on Holidays and Remembrance Days of the Republic of Armenia.

It is proposed to include the last Saturday of September in the list of RA holidays and remembrance days, marking it as the day of RA National Minorities.

The day was decided as a result of the discussion with the Council of National Minorities.

“By including the Day of National Minorities of the Republic of Armenia in the list of holidays and remembrance days of the Republic of Armenia, we will promote another opportunity for the citizens of the Republic of Armenia to pay attention to the problems of national minorities, preservation, publicizing and dissemination of their culture, make some elements more public and more perceptible and acceptable to the public. This, in turn, will lead not only to increased tolerance towards members of national minorities, but also to the preservation of their identity, which is defined by Article 56 of the RA Constitution,” he mentioned in the draft.

Bakoyan notes that studying the international experience, we prove that in different countries of the world, based on the UN Declaration, the Day of National Minorities is officially established.

“In one case, it is the day of the above-mentioned UN Declaration – 18 December (Romania, India), in another case – the date associated with any decisive role of national minorities in the historical life of the country (Estonia (24 September), Pakistan (11August)),” – the deputy noted.

Deputy Minister of Education, Science Culture and Sport Arayik Khzmalyan mentioned that with this draft we emphasize our fraternal ties with national minorities; the executive is in favor of the draft.

The commission voted for the draft.