The first reading of the Armenian Genocide recognition resolution in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom will take place on November 9. The bill will be presented by Conservative parliamentarian Tim Loughton; its aim is to commemorate the Armenian Genocide through official recognition and remembrance. The bill has three main provisions:
1) Official designation of the massacres of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire and its adjacent territories from 1915 to 1923 as genocide:
2) Annual commemoration of the victims of genocides, including the Armenian Genocide:
3) Promotion of education and public awareness regarding the Armenian Genocide and contemporary human rights violations and war crimes related to it.
The adoption of the bill would affirm the United Kingdom’s commitment to the “Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide” and its fundamental values. It is the role and responsibility of the United Kingdom, as a global player, to recognise the Armenian Genocide, advance genocide studies, and increase public awareness of crimes against humanity.
The United Kingdom is one of the few leading Western countries that has not recognised the Armenian Genocide, which testifies to a gross failure to uphold fundamental concepts of justice. Tim Loughton’s bill gives the United Kingdom the opportunity to correct this course of injustice and impunity.
