Armenia

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In 2023, Armenian internal and external political discourse and public attention was focused on the situation in Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh), which was subject to blockade by Azerbaijan for over nine months from December 2022. On 19 September 2023, Azerbaijan launched a one-day massive military attack on Artsakh settlements, resulting in the deaths and disappearance of hundreds of people. This forced the self-proclaimed Republic of Artsakh to surrender, marking the culmination of Azerbaijan’s long-lasting ethnic cleansing attempts. Almost all of the population of Artsakh, more than 100,000 people, were forced to escape to Armenia within five days, seeking safety and basic living conditions. 

The deteriorating humanitarian situation in Artsakh and military tensions on Armenia’s borders, aggravated by the continued occupation by Azerbaijan military forces of the sovereign territories of Armenia, as well as the anti-Armenian hate propaganda and territorial claims by Azerbaijan’s leadership, escalated the situation and dominated internal politics and public sentiments inside the country. Protests by the opposition and other political initiatives demanding the prime minister’s resignation continued with more intensity following the ethnic cleansing in Artsakh in September 2023. A number of assemblies were also held to raise international organisations’ attention towards humanitarian issues in Artsakh. 

Civil society organisations (CSOs) continued their everyday activities through 2023, some of them with a higher focus on humanitarian and human rights issues. Since September 2023, a significant number of CSOs concentrated their efforts on helping people forcibly displaced from Artsakh, providing informational, psychological, social and legal support, implementing fact-finding initiatives on human rights violations, and raising funds to provide the basic needs of food, shelter, clothes, and hygienic goods.  

The overall score for the CSO environment in Armenia did not change in 2023 as compared to 2022 (4.8 out of 7). The top three areas with the highest scores remain the same compared to 2022: Freedom of Association (5.7), Access to Funding (5.3), and Freedom of Peaceful Assembly (5.3), while the areas with the lowest scores are State-CSO Cooperation (4.0), State Support (4.1), State Duty to Protect (4.5) and Digital Rights (4.5). 

Several important developments were noted in some of the areas analysed. The main development, which concerns both the areas of Freedom of Association and State Duty to Protect is the requirement to declare ultimate beneficial owners (UBOs) of CSOs, which entered into force in 2023. A problem of perception of the beneficial ownership institution is noted among CSOs, while reporting the changes in the data of beneficial owners brings additional costs. Due to this, as well as the continuing lack of effective protection of CSOs working in sensitive areas, a deterioration was noted in the score of State Duty to Protect (from 4.6 in 2022 to 4.5 in 2023).

An important problem identified in Access to Funding is the interpretation of grant projects as ‘delivery of services’, thus subject to charging VAT in cases where the recipient CSO becomes a registered VAT payer when reaching the defined threshold of annual turnover. This might lead to limitation of access to funding in practice; thus, despite a generally enabling environment for CSOs to seek funding from diverse sources, the overall score for Access to Funding has deteriorated (from 5.4 in 2022 to 5.3 in 2023). 

In the area of the Right to Participation in Decision-Making, an improvement in the legislation score was noted due to the adoption of the roadmap for the implementation of Public Administration Reform Strategy and a results framework for 2023-2025, as well as the revised Open Government Partnership (OGP) Action Plan. These documents set out further actions on public participation improvement, including the formation of an institutional mechanism for monitoring and maintenance of participatory management procedures and advancing online and offline tools and mechanisms for participatory governance. Therefore, the overall score in this area improved (from 4.8 in 2022 to 4.9 in 2023). However, a deterioration in terms of access to information was reported, taking into account the continuing practical challenges in getting information from the authorities and an additional category of restricted information (‘official information of limited distribution’) introduced in the Law on State Secrecy and the Law on Freedom of Information.

In the area of Freedom of Expression, despite the Government and media organisations working together on the concept of media reforms, several media-related drafts were not properly consulted on with CSOs in 2023. Lawsuits against media and journalists on the grounds of defamation and insult continue to be at a high rate, with high levels of compensation imposed․ In addition, a number of lawsuits against individuals on the basis of their social media posts were initiated. Hence, the practice score in this area has deteriorated, resulting in a decrease of the overall area score (from 4.8 in 2022 to 4.7 in 2023).

An improvement was reported in the legislation score for State Support due to the adoption of the Law on Volunteer Work, aimed at regulating the concept of volunteering and protecting volunteer rights. At the same time, the challenges related to state funding and the lack of an encouraging tax environment for CSOs and donors remain in place, thus the overall area score remains the same as in 2022 (4.1).

There is no specific policy or strategy on CSO development or State-CSO Cooperation, though various national strategies and legislative provisions determine principles of participation and cooperation. Based on TIAC’s negotiations with the Government, discussions around specific components of the CSO enabling environment were organised by the Office of the Prime Minister. The challenges in the functionality and effectiveness of public councils and other consultative bodies remain the same as in previous years.

The Government has taken a number of steps in 2023 towards better media literacy, internet accessibility, and the promotion of digital standards, which together enable greater protection of Digital Rights. Use of technology for surveillance purposes is properly regulated by law and restricted for a narrow set of purposes. There is, however, evidence of unlawful surveillance of phone and electronic communications in practice. 

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Why was collaboration through the CSO Meter essential to create more transparent state funding procedures? Find out more from Anush Hakobyan, Transparency International Anti-Corruption Center (Armenia):