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CORRUPTION HAS BECOME MORE WIDESPREAD WITHIN THE PAST THREE YEARS
[06:36 pm] 31 January, 2007
January 31, 2007, Yerevan – The corruption perception survey was
implemented by Center for Regional Development/ Transparency
International Armenia (CRD/TI Armenia) with the support of UNDP
Armenia Office from July-December 2006. The results of the survey
revealed that nine out of ten citizens consider corruption as a
problem or a major problem in Armenia. In addition, nine out of ten
respondents stressed that free and fair elections is one of the
solutions to improve the anti-corruption situation in Armenia.
The results of the 2006 survey indicated that the citizens of Armenia
are still very much concerned about corruption. 89.0% of the surveyed
citizens see corruption as a problem or a major problem in Armenia.
40.1% of the respondents considered corruption as crime and 11.81% as
an immoral behavior. In 2006, nearly five times more interviewees
(67.7%) than in 2002 (14%) stated that corruption has always existed
in Armenia. The majority of interviewees (64.0%) believe that the
level of corruption has increased during the last three years.
Most people both in 2002 and 2006 still think that bribery and abuse
of public office for personal gain are the main manifestations of
corruption. They still believe that the state authorities are those
who mainly initiate corruption and that more corruption occurs in the
high level of the Armenian government system.
However, the responses concerning the most corrupt institutions
(structures) have changed since 2002. While the prosecution system
was mentioned again in 2006, the Prime Minister’s Office and the
courts that were mentioned in 2002 were replaced by the Prime Minister
and the Ministers in 2006.
As to the most corrupt sectors and services, the traffic police are
still perceived by the public as very corrupt (68.2%). In addition,
the majority of respondents selected the electoral system (73.9%) and
the tax service (63.3%) as most corrupt, while in 2002 the military
and health sector were given similar marks.
The 2006 survey revealed new sectors to which unofficial payments were
made, as reported by interviewees. These are the State Registrar, the
Office of Enforcement of Court Decisions, foreign embassies,
environment-related services, condominiums, as well as the Register of
Civil Acts, in addition to healthcare, education, traffic police, tax,
customs, cadastre, military, local self-government bodies, notary
offices, which were also mentioned in 2002.
Whereas the majority of the 2002 respondents thought that the main
causes of corruption are poor law enforcement, imperfect legislation
and inefficient control and punishment mechanisms, in 2006 an
increased number of interviewees were inclined to see public tolerance
as one of the major causes of corruption in Armenia.
According to the findings of the 2006 survey, 69.4% of the public is
not aware about the Anti-Corruption Strategy, 84.4% about the
Anti-Corruption Council and 91.4% about its Monitoring Commission, as
well as about Armenia’s international obligations in the fight against
corruption (84.3%).
While prioritizing the solutions to improve the current situation,
89.0% of the respondents pointed to a necessity of ensuring free and
fair elections. They also referred to strengthening law enforcement
(93.9%) and punishment of those involved in corruption (91.9%) as a
key to the success of reducing corruption in the country. Both in 2002
and 2006, the majority of interviewees continue to believe that the
President of the country could play a determining role in reducing
corruption in Armenia. More than half of the respondents felt that
people themselves cannot do anything.
In 2006, 39.0% of the respondents said they could not justify
corruption at all. In 2006, 50.7% of respondents answered that they
would not take bribes since it is unacceptable for them, whereas in
2002 only 17% of the respondents were of the same opinion.
The above data was presented today at the presentation of `2006
Corruption Perception Survey in Armenia’ publication, which took place
in the Congress Hotel. The survey results were presented by the
Chairwoman of the CRD/TI Armenia Ms. Amalya Kostanyan. The event
brought together public figures, representatives of NGOs and
international organizations, as well as mass media. Ms. Consuelo
Vidal, UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative,
Ambassador Vladimir Pryakhin, Head of OSCE Office in Armenia,
Ms. Bojana Urumova, Special Representative of Secretary General of CoE
to Armenia, and Ms. Anna Aghadjanian, Head of the Human Rights
Division of the International Organizations’ Department, Ministry of
Foreign Affairs of Armenia were key speakers of the event.
The survey was implemented by CRD/TI Armenia with the support of UNDP
Armenia Office. The organization carried on a similar survey in 2002,
and analogous survey questionnaire was developed in 2006 to ensure a
comparison with the previous data.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress