The European Armenian Federation for Justice and Democracy (EAFJD) ( Armenian: ՀՅԴ Եվրոպայի Հայ դատի գրասենյակ) is a grassroots

umbrella organization An umbrella organization is an association of (often related, industry-specific) institutions who work together formally to coordinate activities and/or pool resources. In business, political, and other environments, it provides resources and ofte ...

which represents a significant part of the

Armenian diaspora The Armenian diaspora refers to the communities of Armenians outside Armenia and other locations where Armenians are considered an indigenous population. Since antiquity, Armenians have established communities in many regions throughout the world. ...

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

. The EAFJD is the main interlocutor promoting Armenian issues in the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are located primarily in Europe, Europe. The union has a total area of ...

and other

international organizations An international organization or international organisation (see spelling differences), also known as an intergovernmental organization or an international institution, is a stable set of norms and rules meant to govern the behavior of states a ...

Activities

EU-Armenia relations

One of the goals of the EAFJD is to strengthen the ties and deepen cooperation between

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''O ...

and the member states of the EU. In 2013, with common efforts of the Mission of Armenia to the EU and the EAFJD a friendship group with Armenia was established in the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the Legislature, legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven Institutions of the European Union, institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and in ...

. The group was relaunched in February 2015, after the European Parliament's elections of 2014. The friendship group is currently composed of around 50 MEPs and fosters the cooperation between the two sides. As of 2018, the organization initiated the

Vahan Hovhannisyan Vahan Hovhannisyan ( hy, Վահան Հովհաննիսյան; August 16, 1956 – December 28, 2014) was an Armenian politician of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF).European Friends of Armenia organization.

Armenian genocide recognition

The EAFJD's activities also aim at the recognition of the

Armenian genocide The Armenian genocide was the systematic destruction of the Armenian people and identity in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Spearheaded by the ruling Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), it was implemented primarily through t ...

by Turkey and

reparations Reparation(s) may refer to: Christianity * Restitution (theology), the Christian doctrine calling for reparation * Acts of reparation, prayers for repairing the damages of sin History *War reparations **World War I reparations, made from ...

. Since its establishment, the EAFJD has been also advocating for the condemnation and

recognition Recognition may refer to: *Award, something given in recognition of an achievement Machine learning *Pattern recognition, a branch of machine learning which encompasses the meanings below Biometric * Recognition of human individuals, or biomet ...

of the Armenian genocide by the parliaments of various European countries, as well as the European Parliament. The EAFJD contributed to the adoption of a European Parliament resolution in April 2015 which reaffirms the parliament's condemnation of the Armenian genocide and urges Turkey to come to terms with its past.

Artsakh/Nagorno-Karabakh

A focal aspect of the EAFJD's activities is advocacy for the fundamental right of the people of Artsakh to decide upon their own present and future as well as live in peace and dignity. The EAFJD undertakes initiatives and projects aimed at promoting people-to-people contact and exchange with the people of Artsakh. In order to foster dialogue between the EU and Artsakh, the organization puts special emphasis on the development of the parliamentary diplomacy between the National Assembly of Artsakh and legislative bodies of the EU member states, as well as the European Parliament. During the past few years the EAFJD contributed to the establishment of friendship groups with Artsakh in several parliaments in Europe. The EAFJD organizes and facilitates fact-finding missions of public and political figures to Artsakh in order to obtain firsthand information about the reality and developments in the country. The EAFJD's aim is to overcome the stereotype of Artsakh/

Nagorno-Karabakh Nagorno-Karabakh ( ) is a landlocked region in the South Caucasus, within the mountainous range of Karabakh, lying between Lower Karabakh and Syunik, and covering the southeastern range of the Lesser Caucasus mountains. The region is m ...

as a conflict zone and present various aspects of its society and the daily life of the people of Artsakh, as well as its rich tourism potential and unique cultural heritage. The organization makes continuous efforts towards strengthening democracy, supporting the active civil society, contributing to the economic development and advancing human rights in Artsakh.

Armenian communities in the Middle East

The European Armenian Federation for Justice and Democracy sensitizes on the issues of the Armenian communities in the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...

, notably in

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

. In this framework, the EAFJD initiated and facilitated a fact-finding mission comprising Belgian MP George Dallemagne and a number of journalists to the Syrian cities of

Kessab Kessab, Kesab, or Kasab ( ar, كسب ; hy, Քեսապ, Kesab) is a mostly Armenian-populated town in northwestern Syria, administratively part of the Latakia Governorate, located 59 kilometers north of Latakia. It is situated near the border w ...

and Lattakia to obtain up-to-date information on the situation of Christian minorities, particularly the Armenians living there.

Community activism

As an umbrella organization, the EAFJD coordinates the activities of its member organizations—committees for the Defense of the Armenian Cause (ANCs) in Europe and organizes events to raise awareness of issues facing the Armenians diaspora. Every four years, the EAFJD organizes the European Armenian Convention, which brings together Armenian and European officials, politicians, religious leaders, representatives of academia, media, and civil society to discuss challenges as well as resolutions to issues. The most recent convention took place in Brussels between 17–18 October 2017. More than 300 participants from different countries of Europe and the world were present at the event.

Short-term observation missions to Artsakh

Acknowledging the crucial role of election observation in

democracy Democracy (From grc, δημοκρατία, dēmokratía, ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation (" direct democracy"), or to choose g ...

-building and promoting

human rights Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hu ...

, especially in new emerging democracies, such as Artsakh, the EAFJD deploys short-term observation missions (STOs) to the electoral processes of the Artsakh Republic based on the election observation methodology of the OSCE/ODIHR. In 2015, the EAFJD deployed an independent international STO mission to obverse the parliamentary elections in Artsakh. In 2017, another highly experienced short-term international mission was deployed to observe the Referendum on the drafted Constitution of Artsakh. These two observation missions were first in their format and professionalism as they were based on the methodology of the OSCE/ODIHR. Besides, they were another step towards breaking the isolation of the Artsakh Republic, as many international organizations still refrain from deploying election observation missions to Artsakh due to its unrecognized status.

References

External links

European Armenian Federation for Justice and Democracy
on Facebook {{Armenia topics Armenia–European Union relations Armenian diaspora in Europe Diaspora organizations International organizations based in Europe Organisations based in Brussels Organizations established in 2002