Chaired by Chairman of the Coalition Governing Board Tevan Poghosyan, the Governing Board of Armenian CSO Anti-Corruption Coalition held its regular session.
Mr. Karen Zadoyan, Coordinator of Secretariat of the CSO Anti-Corruption Coalition and President of the Armenian Lawyers’ Association introduced to the attention of the participants the proposals of the Coalition for the 4 target areas ((Education, Health, State Revenue Collection and Police) of the Anti-Corruption Strategy of the Republic of. Armenia and its Implementation Action Plan for 2015-2018, and mentioned that most of these recommendations were accepted.
Thus, the overall picture of the 40 suggested proposals is as follows:
Healthcare sector – 23 suggestions have been submitted, 14 of which have been accepted and 5 have been partially accepted and are included in the Action Plan.
Among them:
- Development of healthcare outcomes criteria;
- Clarify the list of people involved in socially insecure and special groups of population entitled to receiving free or privileged medicines, and drug delivery mechanisms as defined by Government Decree No. 1717-N;
- Establishment of a permanent professional committee for patients’ complaints, treatment complications, duplication of hospitalization in the same year, and death cases as results of the same illness to increase the level of control. Representatives of specialized NGOs will be involved in this committee. The conclusion of this body will determine the effectiveness of treatment, the quality of care and the extent of the medical institution’s responsibility.
The purpose of this, as well as a number of other recommendations, is to curb corruption risks in the health sector.
State Revenue Collection – 8 suggestions were made, of which 2 were accepted, as a result of which 4 changes were made in the Action Plan and 4 actions were included. One proposal has been accepted and an appropriate recommendation has been given to the SRC; the Ministry of Finance already takes action on one of them; two proposals were accepted at the initial stage and then removed as a result of the departmental discussions
Specifically:
- The introduction of a vehicle custom online payment calculator, the introduction of the “Blue Way” customs control procedure to improve post-surveillance controls have been already included in the Action Plan;
- The SRC was instructed to conduct a study on the expediency of introduction of the private detectives institute to overcome corruption in business;
- The Ministry of Finance is elaborating a draft that defines transparency requirements when making off-budget accounts as in case of forming budget accounts.
Police Sector – 7 proposals have been submitted, the Ministry of Finance already takes action on one of them; one was accepted partially, which is reflected in the Action plan; and one is acceptable, which will be expressed in another subsector of the given sector.
Specifically:
- The requirement for publicity and transparency of decision-making on disciplinary liability of the police employees has already been included in the Action Plan;
- A document on the requirements for off-budget accounts is being elaborated by the Ministry of Finance;
- Improvement of Extrajudicial Appeal System of the Road Police is reflected in the sub-sector Action Plan of the Police.
Education Sector – Two proposals were submitted, which were not accepted. However it has been substantiated by the fact that these recommendations envisage regulations for improving educational systems, the implementation of which until the end of 2018 is unrealistic.
However, it should be noted that the Anti-Corruption Council expert had meetings with representatives of the Armenian CSO Anti-Corruption Coalition in the process of forming the education program, as a result of which a number of recommendations were included in the draft, such as anti-corruption education, combating administrative corruption in pre-school and school education institutions (collection of money, tutoring, etc.) and ensuring transparency and accountability of the activities of higher educational establishment.
Karen Zadoyan also presented the issue of the possibility of uniting the bodies investigating corruption-related crimes in one single body, which is provided in the Government’s Program for 2017-2022. It was decided to recommend the Government to study this issue, and to create a working group with participation of the Coalition.
One of the agenda issues was the issue of joining the “Promise of Transparency” initiative implemented by the CSO Coalition of the UN Convention against Corruption.
Mariam Zadoyan, Lawyer of the Armenian Lawyers’ Association, stated that “The Promise of Transparency” is a mechanism developed by the UN Anti-Corruption Coalition, which aims to promote the transparency of the Review of UN Anti-Corruption Convention and increase the level of civil society participation. Since the Ministry of Justice considered the proposal to join this initiative as inappropriate, the Board decided to apply to the Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan, the head of the Anti-Corruption Council of Armenia and to discuss this issue at the Council’s session.
Mariam Zadoyan also presented the process of sectoral and systematic recommendations of the Coalition of “Corruption Risks in Business Sector”. She said that 117 proposals have been submitted to the government last year, the majority of which have already been implemented, some are in implementation phase, and there is no clear information on objections on some proposals. It was decided to apply to the RA Prime Minister and the competent authorities in writing to get information on their progress.
Lawyer Suzanne Soghomonyan, member of Board of the Armenian Lawyers’ Association, presented the issue of the existing problems in the anti-corruption impact assessment/legal expertise process in Armenia and the resulting negative consequences The Council decided to apply to the Ministry of Justice in writing on this issue.
Mr. Vahagn Hambardzumyan President of the “Association of Accountants of SME of Armenia” Non Governmental Organization presented some of the Tax Code regulations that could have a negative impact on the business environment. It was decided to carry out legal analysis of these provisions and discuss them with SRC representatives.
The Anti-Corruption Coalition of Civil Society Organizations of Armenia was established on 28 November, 2014 by the initiative of the Armenian Lawyers’ Association. The Coalition includes about 95 CSOs from Yerevan and the RA regions. The coalition has been established within the framework of the EU Funded “Multi-Faceted Anti-Corruption Promotion” Project.