On 22 December, an online discussion in the format of a public-private dialogue on the development of the Open Government Partnership (OGP) National Action Plan 5 on the Good Governance and Justice Sector sector was held.
The event was organized in the framework of the “Co-creation Support for the 2020-2022 OGP National Action Plan” project implemented by a consortium of 3 Non-Governmental Organizations “Armavir Development Center”, “Armenian Lawyers’ Association” and “Freedom of Information Center” with the support of the “OGP” Support Unit.
The aim of the initiative is to improve the governance system through the active involvement of civil society, to promote its efficiency, by increasing the level of transparency, credibility and accountability of state-citizen relations. In order to do this, government and civil society representatives develop action plans, setting out clear measures to achieve the goals of the Initiative.
Ms Ani Harutyunyan, the representative of “Armavir Development Center” NGO, said in her opening remarks that the Armavir Development Center NGO had formed a consortium with the Armenian Lawyers’ Association, and the Freedom of Information Center, to support the 5th OGP Action Plan to make the government more accountable. She said that in 2018 “Armavir Development Center” with the support of the World Bank implemented a program dedicated to the joint development and implementation of the 4th Open Government Partnership National Action Plan.
The objective of the project was to create a package of commitments at the local-national level, which would promote the openness, transparency and participation of the Government. She noted that at the launch of the 5th plan, they considered it necessary to improve the process of joint development of the plan, to ensure a comprehensive, dialogue of all stakeholders, and later the feedback, to raise the level of awareness on OGP issues.
Ani Harutyunyan clarified that the goal of the forthcoming 5th program is to support the elaboration of an ambitious program of commitments at the community-national level, in favor of increasing the government’s transparency and accountability, government’s responsibility and citizen involvement.
Ms. Lilya Afrikyan, OGP Armenia Program Coordinator under RA Prime Minister’s Office/RA Contact Person, presented the OGP-Armenia relations. She noted that justice is one of the main directions of OGP, and thirty percent of the commitments of OGP countries are related to justice. Armenia has had at least three commitments related to justice under the previous four programs.
According to the speaker, regardless of priorities or challenges, justice is one of the main areas of activity for the Government.
Ms Shushan Doydoyan, President of the “Freedom of Information Center” NGO, in the first part of the report referred to freedom of speech, which, according to the speaker, is the cornerstone of human rights and justice, without which the rest is declarative.
“The right to freedom of expression one of the components of which is the right to freedom of speech should be emphasized. This includes the right to association, receive and disseminate information. During the war, the right to freedom of expression was restricted, and even after the signing of the so-called peace document, restrictions were still in place for some time.
The right to freedom of expression must be exercised, including the right to freedom of expression. This includes the right to associate, to receive and to disseminate information. During the war, the right to freedom of expression was restricted, and even after the signing of the so-called peace document, the restrictions were maintained for some time.
According to Doydoyan, 62 citizens and 12 organizations were fined for abusing the right to freedom of speech, and the fines were quite high. However, fines are the last resort the state must take. In this regard, the speaker suggested that civil society carry out a process of fact-checking and literate consumption of news, helping citizens to distinguish between falsification and truth.
Shushan Doydoyan suggested using proactive and reactive directions, one in the hands of the state, the other in the hands of the citizen. These are the main tools against misinformation, through which the citizen receives information from the state on the basis of a primary source of information, thus fighting against the evil called misinformation. As an electronic, fast and reliable tool, the speaker brought the example of the official website e-request.am.
Ms. Anush Aslanyan, President of the “Equal Rights, Equal Opportunities” NGO for people with disabilities, noted that she was in favor of tough measures related to freedom of speech and dissemination of misinformation. There is hate speech today that people confuse with freedom of speech.
Ms. Syuzanna Soghomonyan, the program expert at the Armenian Lawyers’ Association, presented in her report the structure of the RA justice sector, which also included the e-justice. She noted that within the framework of the 5th OGP Plan, the commitments in the field of justice are connected with the introduction of e-justice tools.
“The 2019-2023 Strategy of Judicial and Legal Reforms of the Republic of Armenia. and the deriving Action Plan, sets out the new procedure and criteria for inspecting the conduct of judges, members of the Constitutional Court and the SJC, the establishment of a professional commission on constitutional reform, the adoption of a law on confiscation of property of Illicit origin, the establishment of an anti-corruption commission. At the same time special importance was attached to the e-Justice,” she said.
In terms of international experience, the speaker noted that more than half of the commitments are focused on judicial reform, which makes governance more accessible.
Expert Ms Mariam Zadoyan mentioned during the discussion that the vulnerable groups conditioned by COVID-19 become more vulnerable, therefore the solutions should be more people-centered, and need-centered.
“OGP has developed mechanisms – open response and open recovery. The collection of proposals related to the epidemic within the OGP is carried out on the basis of the following pillars: Data collection, access to justice, open and accountable justice, capacity and financing, cooperation and partnership,” she said.
Mariam Zadoyan also referred to e-justice, under which she understands a system that allows organizing document circulation, long-distance court hearings, statistics.
“There are precedents of holding long-distance sittings in Armenia. As for the statistics, the speaker stated that there are shortcomings; the data is not sufficiently open and it is not possible to perform certain operations with them. Alternative dispute resolution mechanisms are not common in Armenia. In this regard, mediators will be trained.
And the third is to ensure the well-being of the actors in the field of justice,” Ms Zadoyan noted.
The participants of the discussion reached agreements on further work.