On June 20 at Congress Hotel in Yerevan “Monitoring of Democratic Reforms in
Armenia” report was presented. The report has been developed by the Yerevan
Press Club under the project of the same name, funded by the Open Society Institute
Human Rights and Governance Grants Program. Support to the administering the
research on certain sections of the project and in report development was also
provided by the Open Society Institute Assistance Foundation-Armenia. In the
report preparation a number of NGOs, membering in Partnership for Open Society
initiative, took part. As reported, the first monitoring of democratic reforms
was implemented in 2005 and aimed to determine to what extent Armenia is compliant
with its commitments in human rights and democracy. The basis for the study
in 2005 were the commitments of the country to the Council of Europe, assumed
upon accession to that organization, as well as the requirements of the resolutions,
produced later by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe regarding
the commitment compliance process (the report can be viewed on YPC web-site
www.ypc.am in “Studies” section).
The new monitoring covered the reform process in 2006 (till December 31). The
base for it were the indicators of “Ruling Justly” section of the selection
criteria of the US Millennium Challenge Account (a program which is to last
5 years and aims to overcome poverty in Armenia). This approach of the researchers
proceeded from the fact that the Millennium Challenge Corporation selects countries
by assessing their commitment to the principles of justice, democratic governance,
liberal economy and the effort made to achieve prosperity for the people of
the country, and the representatives of the Corporation repeatedly noted that
the continuation of the program is contingent, among other things, on the reform
process in Armenia.
Thus, the research administered in 2006 consists of the following sections:
civil liberties (human rights and freedoms, freedom of expression and information);
political rights; voice and power accountability; effective government; rule
of law, justice police; control of corruption.
The monitoring on each section covered the legislative amendments, the law
application practice, the reform process, the situation in the sphere, as well
as recommendations to achieve reform effectiveness.
At the report presentation each of the sections listed was presented by the
experts who had prepared it.
“Monitoring of Democratic Reforms in Armenia”-2006 was published by separate
brochures in three languages – Armenian, English and Russian, as well as placed
on YPC web-site www.ypc.am in “Studies” section.
