GPS, Google Maps use endangers Armenia's border residents: Ombudsman

PanARMENIAN.Net - The use of GPS systems or Google Maps poses a serious threat to the right to life and security of Armenia's border residents, their physical and mental integrity and other vital rights, Human Rights Defender Arman Tatoyan said Friday, January 8.

Tatoyan and his team paid a three-day visit to Goris, Shurnukh, Vorotan, Kapan, Meghri and other communities in Armenia's Syunik province. Tatoyan said the security of the RA state borders is endangered.

"In particular, the mechanical application of this principle brought under control of Azerbaijan, for example, various sections of the road connecting Goris, Vorotan, Shurnukh and other communities, which directly endangered the movement of civilians," the Human Rights Defender said.

"Today's meetings of the Human Rights Defender with the residents of the border communities, and the discussions and studies with the community confirm that the Azerbaijani military is carrying out missions of provocations. Armed men regularly appear on the roads in the immediate vicinity of peaceful neighborhoods and do so by displaying weapons to intimidate civilians, primarily women and children."

He revealed that some residents have been deprived of their own homes and the opportunity to make a living, of the opportunity to use their privately owned and community-owned vital agricultural land.

"Therefore, resolving the issue of Armenia's borders with the applications of a private organization, Google or GPS [Global Positioning System], which also endangers the inviolability of Armenia's state borders and the country's security, is absolutely unacceptable from the point of view of ensuring the rights of people living in our country," Tatoyan added.