Azernews.Az

The Council of Europe has called on Armenia to take tougher action against instances of ethnic and religious intolerance, Interfax Azerbaijan news agency quoted the CoE as saying.

The CoE said the framework convention of its advisory committee assessing the situation with ethnic minorities in Armenia cited tension and intolerance between the Kurdish and Jezidi communities.

"The Jezidi minority continues to be an object of stereotyping and intolerance," the CoE said.

Moreover, the convention notes, though Armenian public television and radio broadcasters continue airing programs for ethnic minorities, the response of the authorities and public to anti-Semitic views expressed in numerous media outlets has been disproportionate, despite complaints from the Jewish community members.

The CoE body said there were reports concerning numerous acts of vandalism committed near the memorial to Holocaust victims in central Yerevan in 2005, 2006 and 2007.

"Such instances require an urgent and adequate response of the authorities," the convention says.

The CoE also pointed to discrimination against the Russians, Belarusians and Ukrainians in Armenia while obtaining their identification documents.

The group advised the Armenian government to vigorously investigate and prosecute those responsible for committing crimes on the grounds of anti-Semitism, xenophobia and racial hate, and provide suitable conditions for preventing such instances in the future.