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ARMENIAN NGOS NOTE "FORMAL" COMMITMENT OF AUTHORITIES TO OPEN GOVERNMENT PARTNERSHIP INITIATIVE
Society | 16.10.13 | 12:41
>From left to right Varujan Hoktanyan, Ashot Meliqyan, Levon Barseghyan
By Siranuysh Gevorgyan
ArmeniaNow reporter
Representatives of non-governmental organizations who have carried
out the monitoring of the Open Government Partnership program believe
that Armenia has met the commitments undertaken as part of the program
mainly formally, while there are serious shortcomings in terms of
their application.
Armenia joined the Open Government Partnership initiative in September
2011. As many as 60 countries are members of this initiative that
seeks achieve improved governance based on active involvement of
civil society, as well as enhance public management efficiency through
increased level of transparency, mutual trust and accountability in
State-citizen relationship.
The initiative is coordinated by an intergovernmental committee
consisting of eight founding nations: the United States, Brazil,
Indonesia, Mexico, Norway, the Philippines, South Africa and the
United Kingdom.
Joining the initiative, Armenia assumed a number of obligations,
including the promotion of open governance through e-government,
revision of regulations (the Guillotine Program), improvement of
the public sector internal audit system, ensuring improved public
procurement procedures and budget planning and reporting systems,
promotion of access to information, promotion of transparency and
objectivity in public administration, fight against corruption, etc..
Armenia is now completing its first Action Plan and developing the
next for 2014-2016.
Varuzhan Hoktanyan, director of the Transparency International
Anti-Corruption Center, one of the NGOs that has conducted the
monitoring, said during a Tuesday meeting with reporters that the
government of Armenia has followed only one principles of open
government - it has increased the availability of new technologies,
ensuring accountability.
And Asparez Journalists' Club president Levon Barseghyan said: "I
have the impression that the government is reluctant, it does not
have serious faith in the ideas that it has started realizing. Then
he added, however, that on a scale from zero to 10, where 10 is the
highest, he would evaluate the government's work in the past two
years as 7 or 8.
The Committee to Protect Freedom of Expression (CPFE) has reviewed
three directions: transparency of declarations of property and income
by senior officials, standardization of contents on official websites
of government agencies, development of public officials' knowledge
and skills on freedom of information.
CPFE head Ashot Melikyan said that the declarations of more than half
of high-ranking officials are absent from the websiteethics.am.
"Of the 131 members of the National Assembly only 42 have presented
declarations on the website. I would advise that journalists often
enter this website. It provides rich material for the preparation
of investigative articles," said Melikyan, emphasizing that they
also consider the contents of the declarations, in particular the
extent to which they reflect the real size of officials' property,
to be a serious problem.
With regard to the government's official websites, according to the
CPFE studies, their average level of transparency is 42 percent.
Melikyan also said that officials' knowledge on freedom of information
is "not so great".
"We have sent 86 letters to various government agencies. Only in 31
cases we got responses that corresponded to the requirements of the
Freedom of Information Law," said Melikyan.
Representatives of non-governmental organizations also voiced concerns
over the 2014-2016 Action Plan. They said that almost all of their
proposals had been rejected. Hoktanyan said he had the impression
that Armenia wants to focus only on deepening e-government.
NGOs are going to develop an alternative plan and submit it at the
upcoming summit, during which the next actions are endorsed.
http://www.armenianow.com/society/49248/armenia_open_governance
Society | 16.10.13 | 12:41
>From left to right Varujan Hoktanyan, Ashot Meliqyan, Levon Barseghyan
By Siranuysh Gevorgyan
ArmeniaNow reporter
Representatives of non-governmental organizations who have carried
out the monitoring of the Open Government Partnership program believe
that Armenia has met the commitments undertaken as part of the program
mainly formally, while there are serious shortcomings in terms of
their application.
Armenia joined the Open Government Partnership initiative in September
2011. As many as 60 countries are members of this initiative that
seeks achieve improved governance based on active involvement of
civil society, as well as enhance public management efficiency through
increased level of transparency, mutual trust and accountability in
State-citizen relationship.
The initiative is coordinated by an intergovernmental committee
consisting of eight founding nations: the United States, Brazil,
Indonesia, Mexico, Norway, the Philippines, South Africa and the
United Kingdom.
Joining the initiative, Armenia assumed a number of obligations,
including the promotion of open governance through e-government,
revision of regulations (the Guillotine Program), improvement of
the public sector internal audit system, ensuring improved public
procurement procedures and budget planning and reporting systems,
promotion of access to information, promotion of transparency and
objectivity in public administration, fight against corruption, etc..
Armenia is now completing its first Action Plan and developing the
next for 2014-2016.
Varuzhan Hoktanyan, director of the Transparency International
Anti-Corruption Center, one of the NGOs that has conducted the
monitoring, said during a Tuesday meeting with reporters that the
government of Armenia has followed only one principles of open
government - it has increased the availability of new technologies,
ensuring accountability.
And Asparez Journalists' Club president Levon Barseghyan said: "I
have the impression that the government is reluctant, it does not
have serious faith in the ideas that it has started realizing. Then
he added, however, that on a scale from zero to 10, where 10 is the
highest, he would evaluate the government's work in the past two
years as 7 or 8.
The Committee to Protect Freedom of Expression (CPFE) has reviewed
three directions: transparency of declarations of property and income
by senior officials, standardization of contents on official websites
of government agencies, development of public officials' knowledge
and skills on freedom of information.
CPFE head Ashot Melikyan said that the declarations of more than half
of high-ranking officials are absent from the websiteethics.am.
"Of the 131 members of the National Assembly only 42 have presented
declarations on the website. I would advise that journalists often
enter this website. It provides rich material for the preparation
of investigative articles," said Melikyan, emphasizing that they
also consider the contents of the declarations, in particular the
extent to which they reflect the real size of officials' property,
to be a serious problem.
With regard to the government's official websites, according to the
CPFE studies, their average level of transparency is 42 percent.
Melikyan also said that officials' knowledge on freedom of information
is "not so great".
"We have sent 86 letters to various government agencies. Only in 31
cases we got responses that corresponded to the requirements of the
Freedom of Information Law," said Melikyan.
Representatives of non-governmental organizations also voiced concerns
over the 2014-2016 Action Plan. They said that almost all of their
proposals had been rejected. Hoktanyan said he had the impression
that Armenia wants to focus only on deepening e-government.
NGOs are going to develop an alternative plan and submit it at the
upcoming summit, during which the next actions are endorsed.
http://www.armenianow.com/society/49248/armenia_open_governance