The monitoring work of the National Strategy for the Protection of Human Rights and its Implementation Action Plan is underway under the “Promoting of Straight Democracy for Strengthening Human Rights in Armenia” project. The project traditionally provides the public with summary information on the monitoring results, covering specific areas of the Action Plan each week.
Previous materials have already provided to the public attention the information on the activities carried out by the RA Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, the RA Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure, the RA Ministry of Defense, RA Police, RA Ministry of Justice, RA Ministry of Economy, the RA Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport and the State Revenue Committee. This week we will present the results of the action 89 of National Strategy for the Protection of Human Rights and its Implementation Action Plan, which envisages developing a communication plan for the 2020-2022 National Strategy for Human Rights Protection and its derivative Action Plan.
According to the information provided by the Ministry of Justice, in cooperation with the International Republican Institute (IRI), the Ministry of Justice has developed the a communication plan for the 2020-2022 National Strategy for Human Rights Protection and its derivative Action Plan. The objectives of this plan are to raise awareness among the target groups about the 2020-2022 National Strategy for Human Rights Protection and its derivative Action Plan and its importance to citizens. At the same time, the e-rights.am platform is available to ensure transparency and accountability of government activities in the field of human rights protection within the framework of the “Protection of Human Rights in Armenia” program. The platform provides an opportunity to get acquainted online with the National Strategy for Human Rights Protection and its Derivative Action Plan, the implementation process of measures, the publication of reports submitted by government agencies, and submit comments on the measures.
According to the representative of the Ministry of Justice, interviews were conducted with representatives of state bodies to develop a communication strategy to assess their awareness needs, obstacles to activities in the field of public awareness, as a result of which actions and measures in communication strategy were identified. According to the representatives of the Ministry of Justice, the communication strategy is quite comprehensive; it includes a number of actions with clear deadlines. Awareness raising activities, which will include young people, women and vulnerable groups of the target groups are envisaged. It is planned to hold public discussions, seminars, video shooting and other events. According to the representative of the ministry, during the first half of 2020, the development of strategic communication was carried out and no concrete awareness actions were carried out yet. The implementation of these actions is planned from September 2020 and will be implemented in stages over three years.
According to focus group discussions, the CSO representatives, highlighted the role of CSOs in the process of organizing communication between the state and citizens. According to CSOs, civil society organizations are more involved in raising awareness on the National Strategy for Human Rights Protection as compared with the government agencies. Awareness is mostly low in the regions, especially in remote regions as the CSO representatives noted. The awareness function is mainly performed by CSO representatives in the regions and the situation is relatively good in the regions where there are human rights NGOs. As CSO assessments show, the work done in the field of human rights protection by the state bodies is more publicized for the CSO sector, and there is no broad awareness carried out for the public. Awareness-raising activities carried out by the CSO sector are not sufficient to ensure a broader, larger-scale awareness of the National Strategy for Human Rights Protection and its Derivative Action Plan.
In general, CSOs assessed the cooperation of state bodies with CSOs in the field of Human Rights Protection as satisfactory. However, in terms of cooperation with the CSO sector in the field of the Human Rights Protection, CSOs have identified some shortcomings, in particular, the limitation of the number of CSOs involved, the constant preference for the same structures. The CSOs also pointed out that the participation of individual citizens in the processes is very small, and the CSO sector is mainly the initiating party in the process of initiating the dialogue.
More detailed monitoring results in the above and other areas will be presented in the monitoring report, which will be prepared after the completion of the research field work. The competent authorities will also be presented with a package of recommendations aimed at improving the implementation of the National Strategy for the protection of human rights in the country as a whole.
This publication has been produced in the scope of the “Promoting Direct Democracy for Strengthening Human Rights in Armenia” project implemented in the framework of the “Eastern Partnership Civil Society Facility” project funded by the European Union.
The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of the fellow for the “Promoting Direct Democracy for Strengthening of Human Rights in Armenia” project and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the European Union.