On 26 April 2022, Transparency International Anticorruption Center (TIAC) organised the presentation of the 2021 CSO Meter country report on Armenia in Yerevan. 50 representatives of the CSOs, state institutions, international organisations, and media outlets attended the event.
The research and the report are based on a unique methodology, jointly designed with other EaP civil society experts. The CSO Meter tool measures law and practice in key areas that affect civil society, from freedom of association and assembly, through participation to access to funding and right to privacy.
Sona Ayvazyan, the Executive Director of TIAC and Silja Kassman, the Deputy Head of Cooperation of the EU Delegation to Armenia provided opening remarks at the event. Ms. Ayvazyan presented the objectives of the “CSO Meter: A Compass to Conducive Environment and CSO Empowerment“ project․ She mentioned that TIAC was engaged by ECNL as a country partner since 2017 to participate in the design of the methodology and implement monitoring of the civil society environment in Eastern Partnership countries. Ms. Kassman outlined the importance of civil society in any country the EU operates in, and mentioned that promoting and supporting the civil society dialogue and participation in policy making process, supporting the sustainability of civil society are part of the recently updated EU Country Roadmap for Engagement with Civil Society in Armenia for the period 2021-2027.
Key findings
Anush Hakobyan and Tatevik Margaryan from TIAC presented the main findings of the CSO Meter research for 2021. The authors shared several negative developments in the areas of freedom of speech and freedom of peaceful assembly, as well as increased hate speech and smear campaigns against CSOs. They also shared the positive developments, which included adopting regulations for better transparency and competitiveness of state grant provision, a new possibility for CSOs to present in the court interests of persons with disabilities, and increased threshold of the state-granted amount is subject to audit. There are also some key issues that place burden over CSOs and remain of concern since previous years, including the unequal treatment of CSOs vs. businesses in terms of registration and taxation; regress in the practices of CSO engagement in decision-making, and weak protection of the right to privacy particularly in the digital platforms.
Next steps
In the subsequent discussion, participants raised possible steps and directions of improvement of CSO environment in the areas of CSO registration and operation; financial viability; participation in decision-making, and state protection of CSOs and associated persons. The results of the discussion will be incorporated in the draft roadmap on CSO enabling environment improvement and presented to relevant government agencies.