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INFO AVAILABILITY RESEARCH: WEBSITES OF STATE BODIES IN ARMENIA MONITORED FOR TRANSPARENCY
http://www.armenianow.com/society/human_rights/48473/armenia_monitoring_websites_news
HUMAN RIGHTS | 13.09.13 | 09:25
Photolure
By Gohar Abrahamyan
ArmeniaNow reporter
A monitoring of official websites has revealed that the highest
availability of information is ensured by the websites of the Ministry
of Territorial Administration, the Syunik province, as well as the
National Assembly and the Prosecutor-General's Office. The least
information is available on the official websites of the National
Commission on Television and Radio and the Nuclear Safety Regulatory
Committee.
The Committee to Protect Freedom of Expression (CPFE), which has
conducted the monitoring of websites since 2010, this year conducted
the survey from May 1 to August 15. During this period, using 152
criteria, of which 131 relate to the contents and 21 are technical,
it examined a total of 51 websites.
CPFE Chairman Ashot Melikyan said at a meeting with media on Thursday
that the 51 sites had been divided into three conventional groups, of
which 34 were the sites of ministries and departments, 10 of regional
administrations, and the third group was a general group in which
the websites of state institutions like the president, the National
Assembly, the government, the Constitutional Court, the Prosecutor's
Office, the Ombudsman and the Yerevan City Hall are included.
"Of the 51, 32 have improved this year compared to the performance
in previous years, but there are still many flaws, which shows that
state bodies are not yet ready for presenting information of public
importance to the public in full," said Melikyan.
According to the media expert, like it was last year the Ministry of
Territorial Administration remains the leader among the ministries and
departments: improving its showing by 15 percent it has now reached
a 83-percent transparency level.
"The second best institution, the State Migration Service, has
registered the biggest progress, improving by 23 percent. It has
outdone the Ministry of Justice, which is ranked third," said Melikyan,
adding that the three leaders are followed by a group of institutions
that have managed to pass the 50-percent mark. While this is a pretty
good result, Melikyan says there are still few such websites.
In the bottom of the rating table where websites mainly failed to
reach even a 30-percent transparency level, i.e. posting less than a
third of expected information, the worst performers are the National
Commission on Television and Radio and the State Nuclear Safety
Regulatory Committee.
Melikyan says that eight of the ten regional administration's
websites have improved, but the performance of the Shirak Regional
Administration's website has declined and the Lori Regional
Administration's website has remained almost at the same level. The
Syunik region's official website still remains the leader.
In the last group, according to the monitoring results, all websites
have improved their work as compared to 2012. Remarkable is progress by
the Yerevan Municipality's website that has improved by 17 percent,
reaching the level of 54 percent. The best in this group are the
websites of the National Assembly and the Prosecutor's Office, which
crossed the 50-percent level still last year.
Melikyan said that the data are still considered preliminary, since,
according to their methodology, hereon begins the stage of cooperation
when websites are improved following discussions between state body
representatives and freedom of expression committee experts.
"We do this work not to name and shame, but to make state bodies
feel responsible to the public and publish the information that
is of importance to the public," said Melikyan, adding that
since 2011 Armenia has been a member of the International Open
Government Partnership initiative where one of the obligations is the
standardization of the contents of state websites. Therefore, he said,
the research may be useful also for the state bodies themselves.
CPFE lawyer Olga Safaryan said that by law state bodies must disclose
information that is of interest to the public.
"Since 2003 Armenia has had a law on freedom of information. Our
monitoring is based on the Armenian legislation, the law requires that
websites be transparent, we just want the law to work in the country,"
said Safaryan.
From: A. Papazian
http://www.armenianow.com/society/human_rights/48473/armenia_monitoring_websites_news
HUMAN RIGHTS | 13.09.13 | 09:25
Photolure
By Gohar Abrahamyan
ArmeniaNow reporter
A monitoring of official websites has revealed that the highest
availability of information is ensured by the websites of the Ministry
of Territorial Administration, the Syunik province, as well as the
National Assembly and the Prosecutor-General's Office. The least
information is available on the official websites of the National
Commission on Television and Radio and the Nuclear Safety Regulatory
Committee.
The Committee to Protect Freedom of Expression (CPFE), which has
conducted the monitoring of websites since 2010, this year conducted
the survey from May 1 to August 15. During this period, using 152
criteria, of which 131 relate to the contents and 21 are technical,
it examined a total of 51 websites.
CPFE Chairman Ashot Melikyan said at a meeting with media on Thursday
that the 51 sites had been divided into three conventional groups, of
which 34 were the sites of ministries and departments, 10 of regional
administrations, and the third group was a general group in which
the websites of state institutions like the president, the National
Assembly, the government, the Constitutional Court, the Prosecutor's
Office, the Ombudsman and the Yerevan City Hall are included.
"Of the 51, 32 have improved this year compared to the performance
in previous years, but there are still many flaws, which shows that
state bodies are not yet ready for presenting information of public
importance to the public in full," said Melikyan.
According to the media expert, like it was last year the Ministry of
Territorial Administration remains the leader among the ministries and
departments: improving its showing by 15 percent it has now reached
a 83-percent transparency level.
"The second best institution, the State Migration Service, has
registered the biggest progress, improving by 23 percent. It has
outdone the Ministry of Justice, which is ranked third," said Melikyan,
adding that the three leaders are followed by a group of institutions
that have managed to pass the 50-percent mark. While this is a pretty
good result, Melikyan says there are still few such websites.
In the bottom of the rating table where websites mainly failed to
reach even a 30-percent transparency level, i.e. posting less than a
third of expected information, the worst performers are the National
Commission on Television and Radio and the State Nuclear Safety
Regulatory Committee.
Melikyan says that eight of the ten regional administration's
websites have improved, but the performance of the Shirak Regional
Administration's website has declined and the Lori Regional
Administration's website has remained almost at the same level. The
Syunik region's official website still remains the leader.
In the last group, according to the monitoring results, all websites
have improved their work as compared to 2012. Remarkable is progress by
the Yerevan Municipality's website that has improved by 17 percent,
reaching the level of 54 percent. The best in this group are the
websites of the National Assembly and the Prosecutor's Office, which
crossed the 50-percent level still last year.
Melikyan said that the data are still considered preliminary, since,
according to their methodology, hereon begins the stage of cooperation
when websites are improved following discussions between state body
representatives and freedom of expression committee experts.
"We do this work not to name and shame, but to make state bodies
feel responsible to the public and publish the information that
is of importance to the public," said Melikyan, adding that
since 2011 Armenia has been a member of the International Open
Government Partnership initiative where one of the obligations is the
standardization of the contents of state websites. Therefore, he said,
the research may be useful also for the state bodies themselves.
CPFE lawyer Olga Safaryan said that by law state bodies must disclose
information that is of interest to the public.
"Since 2003 Armenia has had a law on freedom of information. Our
monitoring is based on the Armenian legislation, the law requires that
websites be transparent, we just want the law to work in the country,"
said Safaryan.
From: A. Papazian