Institute for War & Peace Reporting, UK
CAUCASUS REPORTING SERVICE, No. 593
May 30, 2011

YOUNG ARMENIANS TURNED OFF BY POLITICS

Many believe NGOs are the real area where lobbying for policy changes
is effective.

By Arpi Makhsudyan, Sara Khojoyan

Young people in Armenia are joining pressure groups campaigning on
issues ranging from the language used in schools to the rights of
pregnant women. Experts say the obvious alternative – the world of
politics – does not attract the young because they see it as
discredited, exclusive and corrupt.

Nvard Margaryan, now a 22-year-old student, has been active in
non-government groups since she was 17, campaigning for the rights of
children, disabled people, and sexual minorities.

`Social organisations are based on human and moral values like
humanism, human rights, democracy and tolerance, which I think must be
massively important to everyone,’ she said. `Joining one of them
allows us to stimulate debate, bring these values to life, and be
responsible for our own actions.’

In other countries, energetic young people like Margaryan might be
drawn into political activity, but in Armenia it is NGOs that are seen
as the way to make a difference.

Vahagn Khachatryan of the opposition Armenian National Congress party
says NGOs began becoming much more influential during the build-up to
elections in 2007-08, and the violent crackdown on protests that
followed.

Khachatryan believes NGOs can be more successful than political
parties in some areas.

`Those that are created with a strong desire to change something, and
which focus on particular issues, do better than parties,’ he said.

Analysts say some NGOs have learned how to make an impact on
policymakers, and have thus become part of the country’s political
landscape.

`Civil society is only just developing here,’ Manvel Sargsyan, head of
the Armenian Centre for National and International Studies, said.
`NGOs… become particularly active when young people join them; they
are able to voice their concerns to the authorities and offer
encouragement to a wider section of society.’

Sargsyan pointed to single-issue groups, such as one that campaigned
strongly against the opening of foreign-language schools in Armenia.
As a result, the government agreed to impose an upper limit on the
number of schools allowed to teach in languages other than Armenian,
and to permit them only for older children.

Another campaign protested against a government plan to impose a
162,500 dram, 450 US dollar, cap on monthly maternity pay.
High-earning women whose maternity pay would have been cut by the
measure raised a storm of protest, including via the social networking
site Facebook and a demonstration near the Armenian president’s
residence. The final version of the law represented a concession to
almost all the protesters’ demands.

`It was a victory. We were able to start negotiating and we achieved
most of our demands, if not 100 per cent of them,’ activist Magda
Markosyan said.

Margaryan is currently working for the PINK group on sexual minority
issues, and believes NGOs have already influenced the government in
ways that opposition politicians have not been able to.

`These changes include, for example, the introduction of inclusive
education in Armenia, and the provision of housing for people when
they leave children’s homes. I could cite a lot of examples,’ she
said. `Working in civil society and volunteering, you sense your own
worth and strength so that you can help make social changes and become
part of them.’

By contrast, NGOs working on broader issues, like the Vanadzor branch
of the Helsinki Civil Assembly, a respected human rights group, say
officials are reluctant to engage with them. Arthur Sakunts, a veteran
of the movement, says the government prefers to stage a dialogue with
regime-friendly groups.

`The government cooperates with genuine civil society only when the
format includes international organisations, or is backed by
international structures. The rest of the time, cooperation doesn’t
work out,’ he said.

Arpi Makhsudyan is a correspondent for Capital Daily in Yerevan. Sara
Khojoyan is IWPR’s country director in Armenia.