YEREVAN PRESS CLUB WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
MARCH 5-11, 2004
HIGHLIGHTS:
STATEMENT OF ARMENIAN NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS ON THE TRAGEDY IN
BUDAPEST
“PARTNERSHIP FOR OPEN SOCIETY” INITIATIVE AGAINST THE INTRODUCTION OF
AMENDMENTS TO THE RA LAW “ON FREEDOM OF INFORMATION”
RA GOVERNMENT APPROVED THE MODEL PROCEDURE FOR ACCREDITING JOURNALISTS IN
THE STATE ADMINISTRATION BODIES
STATEMENT OF ARMENIAN NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS ON THE TRAGEDY IN
BUDAPEST
On March 9, 2004 four public organizations of Armenia – Yerevan Press Club,
Helsinki Committee of Armenia, Civil Society Institute and Caucasian Center
of Peace Initiatives – disseminated a joint statement on the assassination
of Armenian officer Gurgen Margarian by his Azerbaijani colleague in
Budapest.
“We, similarly to all our compatriots, were greatly shattered by the
barbarous murder of Armenia officer Gurgen Margarian by Azerbaijani peer
Ramil Safarov. The tragic incident in Budapest provoke numerous thoughts:
about the hate incitement towards Armenian in Azerbaijan that forms the
moral and psychological ground for such crimes as well as about the
connivance of certain international structures to the destructive policy in
Baku, narrowing down the prospects of dialogue with Armenia.
At the same time the irresponsible statements by several Armenian political
and public figures, the publications in media during the recent days cannot
but cause our serious concern. In particular, the Chairman of the Standing
Committee of Foreign Affairs of the RA National Assembly Armen Rustamian,
during the commemoration action for victims of Sumgait pogroms and the head
of the Parliament faction of Republican Party Galust Sahakian during a
briefing at NA on March 4, speaking about the assassin of Gurgen Margarian,
indulged into unacceptable generalizations to the address of Azerbaijan
nation as such.
These statements by politicians of such a high rank, representing a
governing political coalition, are all the more unacceptable since they can
be qualified as an official position of ours state, can create new obstacles
for the negotiations on the peaceful resolution of Karabagh conflict and the
normalization of relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
The artificial intensification of anti-Armenian sentiment in Azerbaijan and
its consequences are to be most strongly criticized, but they can in no way
become a justification for dissemination of racist and chauvinist ideas,
alien to our society.
However hard our experiences related to Budapest tragedy are, we call to
display political reticence and hope that common sense and democratic values
will remain guiding for our country”, the statement of the Armenian NGOs
says.
“PARTNERSHIP FOR OPEN SOCIETY” INITIATIVE AGAINST THE INTRODUCTION OF
AMENDMENTS TO THE RA LAW “ON FREEDOM OF INFORMATION”
On March 5 the expanded meeting of “Partnership for Open Society” coalition,
uniting over 30 non-governmental organizations, was held. It was devoted to
the draft law on amending the RA Law “On Freedom of Information”, approved
by the RA Government (see YPC Weekly Newsletter, February 20-26, 2004).
The RA National Assembly deputy, one of the authors of the Law Victor
Dallakian and a representative of “Democracy” NGO Vardan Poghosian noted
that the Law “On Freedom of Information” adopted on September 23 and
enforced since November 14, 2003 is quite progressive and is up to
international standards. Therefore, the amendments approved by the
Government on February 12, when the Law has not been actually applied, are
premature, particularly, since their majority reduced the democratic
potential of the acting legislation. The allusions of the amendment authors
to the controversies within the Law and its contradiction to the RA
Constitution, as quoted in the appropriate resolution of the Government, are
groundless.
The initiative of the Government to introduce amendments to the Law “On
Freedom of Information” has already received broad negative response both in
Armenia and abroad. The calls to withdraw the governmental amendments were
already voiced by Freedom of Information Civic Initiate, “Article 19” Global
Campaign for Free Expression, Open Society Justice Initiative.
Common amazement is caused by the fact that despite the numerous requests,
neither the RA Ministry of Justice that authored the amendments, nor the
Government presented the official text of the draft approved to the public
organization, despite the numerous requests, thus seriously violating the
principles of freedom of information as such.
As a result of a discussion at an expanded session of the “Partnership for
Open Society” and upon the suggestion of the President of Yerevan Press Club
Boris Navasardian an address to the RA Government was passed, made up of
four main demands:
– To withdraw the draft law “On Introducing Amendments and Additions to the
RA Law “On Freedom of Information”;
– To ensure the application of the RA Law “On Freedom of Information”,
passed in September 23, including the speedy development and adoption of the
appropriate sublegislative acts, not to relate the possible need for the
improvement of the Law to its application;
– Should there be initiatives on amending the law, to broadly discuss them
with representatives of civil society;
– When initiating amendments to the Law, to supplement them by specific and
detailed justification.
RA GOVERNMENT APPROVED THE MODEL PROCEDURE FOR ACCREDITING JOURNALISTS IN
THE STATE ADMINISTRATION BODIES
On March 4 at the session of the RA Government the Model Procedure for
accrediting journalists in the state administration bodies was approved. The
procedure was developed by the RA Ministry of Justice in compliance with the
requirements of the RA Law “On Mass Communication”, passed in December,
2003.
As it has been reported, the discussion of the document with journalistic
associations was rather constructive (see YPC Weekly Newsletter, January
30 – February 5, 2004), however, we are induced to restate our amazement at
the official document being not provided, despite our numerous requests to
do so. This happens to the second legislative initiative of the Government,
related to media activities and cannot fail to alarm the journalistic
community.
When reprinting or using the information above, reference to the Yerevan
Press Club is required.
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Editor of YPC Newsletter – Elina POGHOSBEKIAN
____________________________________________
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