YEREVAN (Armenpress–Noyan Tapan)–The January 24-25 discussions arranged by the OSCE Yerevan office are dedicated to the problem of accessibility and freedom of information in Armenia. Representatives of the Armenian mass media–the National Assembly–the government–international organizations–foreign diplomats–USAID–ABA/CEFLI–the Center of Freedom of Information–and the Association of Investigative Journalists are taking part in the discussions.
Citing several examples–representatives of the Center for Information Freedom claimed that the right to information accessibility and freedom of information is subject to numerous violations. According to them–Armenia’s judiciary is not ready to guarantee freedom and accessibility to information.
Armenian reporters also complained that the Armenian legislation does not provide a clear-cut mechanism for securing accessibility to information.
During the discussion–it was mentioned that the Armenian legislation has no document containing clear legal mechanisms to ensure accessibility and freedom of information. To fill this blank space–NA members Victor Dallakian and Vardan Bostanjian have worked out a draft law "On Freedom of Information," that was put into circulation from August 27–2001. Particularly–the draft law will regulate the conditions and the order of getting information–obligations of various bodies and organizations.
The given bill will be presented at the forthcoming discussions.Bostanjian said they are looking forward to submitting the bill to the NA for approval at the forthcoming session.