Today, the Government of the Republic of Armenia by the suggestion of the Minister of Environment, decided to amend the Law on Freedom of Information, according to which the provision of information may be denied under certain conditions.
Some remarks and facts related to this decision are as follows:
– It was included in the list of unreported issues. In general, it became the current government’s style of work to adopt the majority of decisions by this very same procedure. This fact itself is corruption, an abuse of power that will serve the interests of certain people. There is also a high risk of financial corruption here, as we are aware of the fact that this government, within the framework of unreported issues, has already passed decisions including high corruption risks; for instance twice raising the salaries of the officials and endowing some individuals and organizations with privileges.
– The suppression and restriction of citizens’ freedoms, including freedom of information, has recently become the main area of activity of these authorities. Proof of it was the package of laws passed 1-2 days ago, which allowed to follow the phones and the movement of citizens. This law was just another step in the government’s strategy of imposing restrictions.
– Such restrictions are imposed using the established state of emergency. We are convinced that the authorities were hopeful that the society would not pay any attention to this decision and that they could easily push it through as people are very much concerned about the coronavirus epidemic and will not notice it. Even the international community, which is keen on solving its own problems, managed to notice that the Armenian authorities are using the coronavirus epidemic as a tool to fight against the opposition and its political opponents.
– We have a conviction that the establishment of a state of emergency means that the authorities must invest all their resources and time to prevent the spread of the epidemic and abolish the possible consequences. Everyone, including the Ministry of Environment, must work in this direction. Meanwhile, we see that the authorities often misuse this regime, trying to make decisions that unlawfully strengthen their own government, when the society faced an alarming situation.
Despite the several calls of seriousness voiced by the high authorities today, it is obvious that these calls are not serious at all; otherwise such a secret decision would not have been made at this serious moment. The main reason for the alarming situation in the Republic is the lack of seriousness of the authorities, and thus the policy of making the whole society not serious since the first days of the revolution. In the current conditions, such a practice will bring the country to an uncontrollable catastrophe in just a few weeks.
Head of the “Media Advocate” Initiative
Aghasi Yenokyan
