Month: November 2006

ARMENIA RATIFIES THE HAGUE CONVENTION ON INTER-COUNTRY ADOPTION
Panorama.am
13:13 14/11/06
President of Armenia Robert Kocharyan signed today the Hague
Convention on the Protection of Children and Cooperation in Respect
of Inter-Country Adoption.
According to UNICEF Armenia Office, the Convention was ratified by
the National Assembly on 23 October 2006.
The Hague Convention establishes a set of internationally agreed
minimum requirements and procedures to govern inter-country adoptions
in which a child moves from one country that has signed the Convention
to another signatory country.
“Armenia’s ratification of this treaty highlights the country’s
commitment to ensure that essential safeguards and procedures are
in place regulating the inter-country adoption of children from
Armenia,” says Sheldon Yett, UNICEF Representative in Armenia. “With
its ratification, Armenia joins a partnership of some 70 countries
working together to ensure that the best interests of each individual
child are respected when inter-country adoption is being considered.”
The Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which Armenia is a
signatory, clearly states that every child has the right to be cared
for by his or her own parents, whenever possible. UNICEF believes
that families needing support to care for their children should
receive it, and that alternative means for caring for a child should
only be considered when, despite this assistance, a child’s family is
unavailable, unable or unwilling to care for him or her. Inter-country
adoption is one of a range of care options for a child who cannot be
placed in a family setting in his or her country of origin. However,
the best interests of each individual child must always be the
guiding principle.
Over the past years, the number of families from rich countries wanting
to adopt children from other countries has grown substantially. This,
coupled with insufficient regulation and oversight, risks creating an
environment where motives and activities that may not be in the best
interests of the child can take centre stage. The Convention seeks to
establish a cooperative framework between the countries of origin of
children being placed for adoption and their receiving countries to
ensure that the child’s best interests are safeguarded and to prevent
abuses such as exploitation and trafficking in children.
“Armenia has embarked on the path of child welfare reforms by
adopting a new Family Code, amending key legislation related to
children and establishing child protection bodies at the central and
local level. The country’s accession to this Convention once again
demonstrates the Government’s strong commitment to create a protective
environment for children in Armenia,” the UNICEF Representative
said. “It is now important to ensure that relevant mechanisms are in
place for the effective and full implementation of the Convention.”
The Hague Convention includes provisions to ensure that adoption is
authorized by competent national authorities and that inter-country
adoption does not result in improper financial gain for those involved
in it. These provisions are meant first and foremost to protect
children but also have the positive effect of providing assurance
to prospective adoptive parents that their child had not been the
subject of illegal and detrimental practices.
UNICEF established its presence in Armenia in 1994.
UNICEF is mandated by the United Nations General Assembly to advocate
for the protection of children’s rights, to help meet their basic
needs and to expand their opportunities to meet their full potential.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

COMMISSION ON PUBLIC SERVICES APPROVES OF THE SALE
A1+
[05:18 pm] 14 November, 2006
The Commission on Public Service Control has approved the deal for
OTE’s selling its 90% stake in ArmenTel to VympelCom (Russia).
The representative of VympelCom, the candidate for ArmenTel general
director Oleg Bliznuk says that the deal will be finalized this week.
Bliznuk notes that VympelCom is negotiating with the Armenian
Government over the latter’s 10% stake in ArmenTel.
Reminder: Andranik Manoukyan, Minister of Transportation and
Communication, announced that RA Government is ready to sell the
10percent stake provided they refuse the right to monopoly.
By the way, VympelCom paid 341 million 888 thousand EUR to OTE for
the deal.

EVERYONE MUST RECOGNISE THE INDEPENDENCE OF NKR
A1+
[06:21 pm] 14 November, 2006
Arman Melikyan, the NKR President’s Foreign Policy Advisor, is not
delighted by the announcements on the existing open windows and doors
in connection with the Karabakh conflict settlement.
The conflict cannot be settled in the close future because of the
contradictions among the negotiating parties.
Taking into consideration the announcements of the NKR authorities
that hardly any decision can be made without their participation, the
journalists tried to find out whether there are not any contradictions
between the official Yerevan and Stepanakert.
“We had better stay aside from contradictions as Stepanakert also
agreed to participate in the negotiations. We must be concerned about
the fact that the negotiations haven’t given positive results yet.
We must say, that the negotiations aren’t sufficient on this score,”
said the advisor to the president.
By the way, according to the draft constitution of the NKR (the
referendum of which will be held on December 10) NKR is proclaimed
as sovereign country, whereas the Karabakh conflict is far from being
settled in the nearest future. “I see no problems in this respect as
the negotiations of the conflict may last for 150 years and even more.”
We mustn’t wait for Azerbaijan to recognise Karabakh’s
independence. Karabakh has already proclaimed its independence and
the Constitution referendum tesstifies to this.
Everybody, including Armenia, should realize that NKR is an independent
country. ”
Mr. Melikyan assures that after gaining such status the NKR authorities
will be able to ensure the security of their residents better.
He also tried to compare the 1998 negotiations with the current ones,
“Provided the conflict was finally settled, we could speak of obvious
success”.

PARLIAMENT FAILS TO PASS THE BILL ON ALIENATION OF PROPERTY ON SECOND READING
Panorama.am
14:44 14/11/06
The bill on alienation of property for public and state needs was
voted in the parliament for the second reading when there were
obviously not so many deputies in the hall. The bill collected 69
“for” and 4 “abstained.” “This is beyond any limits,” Aghasi Arshakyan
shouted. When the opposition demanded to show the records of the
voting on the indicator panel, deputies who voted for their friends
quickly left the hall.
Some claimed that the National Assembly chairmanship persistently
wants to push this bill, to which Tigran Torosyan said, “This bill
does not trouble me at all.”
The leader of the Armenian Republican Party faction, Galust Sahakyan,
took a word to say, “There were no violations in the voting” making
Tigran Torosyan understand that there is no need to put the bill on
voting again.
However, Torosyan admitted that there were violations during voting
and suggested to vote again. Because there were not so many deputies
in the hall, the voting was postponed for a more proper time. The
parliament proceeded to the discussion on the budget.

HHK SAYS ORINATS YERKIR ENGAGED IN BLACK PR AGAINST ITSELF
Panorama.am
14:51 14/11/06
Since Orinats Yerkir party has applied to the general prosecutor’s
office to find out who stands behind the black PR against the party
in marzes, Armen Ashotyan, member of Armenian Republican Party (HHK)
made a statement saying, “The black PR against Arthur Baghdasaryan
is conducted by is co-partymen,” particularly by the reporters and
editor of the official newspaper of Orinats Yerkir.
Ashotyan has searched the web and found statements by Orinants Yerkir
which refute that Arthur Baghdasaryan was interviewed by European
famous newspapers on important issues. Ashotyan found out that
Baghdasaryan was interviewed by BBC. “Reporters and editor-in-cheif
of Orinats Yerkir official newspaper spread lie,” he said.
Member of HHK, Ashotyan said his party has no intent to engage in
black PR against Orinats Yerkir because, “It is not our main political
rival.”

“BEYOND SCARCITY: POWER, POVERTY AND THE GLOBAL WATER CRISIS” PRESENTED AT UN HOUSE IN YEREVAN
Public Radio, Armenia
Nov 14 2006
Today, at the UN House in Yerevan Mr. Vardan Aivazyan, Minister of
Nature Protection of Armenia and Ms. Consuelo Vidal, UN resident
coordinator and UNDP resident representative in Armenia presented the
2006 global human development report titled “Beyond scarcity: Power,
poverty and the global water crisis.”
The Report calls on the governments of rich states to act urgently
to address the global water crisis: each year, the authors state,
1.8 million children die from diarrhoea that could be prevented with
access to clean water and a toilet; 443 million school days are lost
to water-related illnesses; and almost 50 percent of all people in
developing countries are suffering at any given time from a health
problem caused by a lack of water and sanitation.
“Like hunger, it is a silent emergency experienced by the poor and
tolerated by those with the resources, the technology and the political
power to end it,” says the Report.
In recent years, Armenia initiated a number of reforms in the area of
water and sanitation management, as well as sustainable use of water
resources. Thanks to these efforts, water management and accessibility
have gradually improved in Yerevan and other major cities. Similar
positive trends were registered in terms of the level of Sevan Lake.
These achievements need to be acknowledged, but at the same time we
need to use this opportunity to draw the public and the government’s
attention to the existing issues: endangered ecosystem of Sevan
due to the emerging swampness phenomena; lack of access to potable
water in many rural and urban communities in Armenia; intensified
desertification processes in Ararat and Armavir marzes; increased
deforestation in Tavush and Lori marzes.

A. PAPYAN: RELATIONS WITH TURKEY MUST BE REGULATED LEGALLY
Panorama.am
15:53 14/11/06
Armenia may recover its title on historic lands and regulate relations
with Turkey bringing the issue into the legal field, Ara Papyan,
ex-ambassador of Armenia to Canada and an adviser at the Armenian
foreign ministry, told a press conference today. In his words, in terms
of politics and military Armenia is much weaker than Turkey. Therefore,
it must use the legal field, he said.
A. Papyan mentioned that according to international law the arbitration
decision of U.S. President Wilson on the territorial delimitation of
Turkey and Armenia is a legal basis which has no statute of limitation.
In December 1920, Armenia and Turkey and 20 other countries signed this
decision. Another legal document, which defines the Armenian-Turkish
border, does not exist, he said. Armenia must recover its title
on the territories let’s say via international court of U.N., he
said.

ARMENIA IN LEAD IN THE REGION ACCORDING TO STANDARD OF LIVING
Panorama.am
15:54 14/11/06
Armenia is at the 80th place among 177 countries, UNDP Report on
Human Development 2006 says. According to the statistics, Armenia
considerably is ahead of regional countries: Georgia is at 97th place,
Azerbaijan – 99th, Iran – 96th and Turkey – 92. As compared to last
report, Armenia went up for 3 points.
The report takes into consideration mortality rate, education, GDP as
per one person. UNDP publishes such reports annually starting from
1990. The report also considers health care, cultural development,
criminal state and ecology.

DILIJAN REGIONAL TOURISM DEVELOPMENT CENTER IS OPENED
Panorama.am
16:07 14/11/06
The Dilijan Regional Tourism Information Center officially opened
today in the city. The center’s development has been supported by
USAID, in close collaboration with the Dilijan Mayor’s Office and the
Dilijan Tourism Association (DTA). According to the USAID Yerevan
representative office, the official opening was followed by a tour
of Dilijan’s improved tourist infrastructure.
The establishment of the Tourism Information Center is a major step
in implementation of the Dilijan Pilot Project launched by the CAPS
competitiveness project’s tourism cluster strengthening. In March
2006, Dilijan became the pilot site for USAID’s Competitive Armenian
Private Sector (CAPS) tourism development project.
Since then CAPS has trained local tourism service providers to improve
Dilijan as a tourism destination.
A Tourism Managers of the Future training enriched participants’
knowledge of tourism, hospitality and management. The Information
Center Operations program provided training to local tourism businesses
serving tourists who visit Dilijan. To help market their products and
services, training program participants from ten local tourism-related
businesses have designed and published for the first time brochures
to promote their businesses.
Dilijan’s Pilot Project is also enhancing the physical tourism
infrastructure. Friendly, multi-lingual Information Center staff will
provide high quality customer service to local and foreign visitors on
accommodation, attractions, and other tourist information to make their
stay in Dilijan more enjoyable. A new bicycle rental enterprise will
operate for visitors who want to use the newly marked bike path. CAPS
and the DTA have been placing signs for local attractions and helping
the city to improve the destination in other ways, such as placing
trash containers in high-traffic areas. The Information Center will
also offer Internet access to visitors for a small fee.
Armen Santrosyan, the Mayor of Dilijan and the President of the Dilijan
Tourism Association, said, “Because Dilijan takes such great pride
in its natural beauty, we are very pleased that so many of us have
come together for the benefit of all parties to make improvements
which add value to our tourism product.”
Engaging local communities in commonly beneficial projects, CAPS aims
to promote sustainable, cluster-based (a cluster is all stakeholders
including hotels, restaurants, tour operators, local governments and
business associations, for example, in tourism) economic growth by
demonstrating the value of cluster competitiveness. The Dilijan Pilot
Project can become a model for other cities to use in implementing
low-cost, high-impact local tourism development programs to benefit
all stakeholders.
“The USAID CAPS mission is to help companies create jobs, increase
exports and boost revenues through assistance in several areas, for
example, in customer service, branding, market research, marketing,
international best practices,” said Hayley Alexander, CAPS Project
Director. “We are working closely with members of the tourism sector to
help Armenians project their natural hospitality and warmth in a more
professional service setting. Our focus is on practical interventions
that we hope can be helpful in making individual businesses, and
Armenia as a whole, more competitive.”
“Armenia is at an important point in its tourism development. Even
small numbers of new visitors can have an important positive
economic impact. We plan both individual firm-level assistance,
plus cooperation with existing projects in the areas of training and
education, improvements in the quality of marketing communications,
including more effective translation, promotional materials and
Internet presence. We look forward to working together with tourism
cluster members, and helping them to find new and creative ways to
realize the tremendous potential of this beautiful and historical
land,” said Mr. Alexander.

STEPAN DEMIRCHYAN AND SERGE SARGSYAN ARE INCOMPATIBLE
A1+
[05:25 pm] 13 November, 2006
Leader of the People’s Party Stepan Demirchyan treats the
announcement of the RA authorities about the 2007 Parliamentary
elections humorously. Let us remind you that the authorities claim
that the 2007 Parliamentary elections will be a step forward from all
the elections in Armenia. “The greatest problem is that the people
do not believe that Armenia can organize free and fair elections”,
Demirchyan said in “Pastark” club today.
Nevertheless, Stepan Demirchyan underlined, “The 2007 Parliamentary
elections are important as the role of the Parliament has become more
important after the fabricated Constitutional referendum”.
According to him, the situation would have been different if “A1+” were
given air and if at least one law-breaker were punished. “Punishing
one law-breaker will be more effective than the amendments to the
Electoral Code. The Electoral Code is not a sufficient precondition
for holding free and fair elections”.
Mr. Demirchyan is sure that the authorities could have organized free
and fair elections even without the amendment to the electoral code,
in case of displaying enough political will. The leader of the People’s
Party claimed that any form of combat except bloodshed is acceptable
for them in order to free the country from the present authorities.
As for the statement of Garnik Margaryan, the head of the party
“Fatherland and Honor”, that the oppositional parties which are going
to participate in plenary and not special elections, have had promises
from the authorities, Mr. Demirchyan said, “If we participate in
the plenary elections, it does not mean that we have had promises
from the authorities. I understand Mr. Margaryan and I share his
position that the situation in the country must be improved before
the elections. But it is a theoretical approach, and we do not have
much time to get ready for the elections.”
Mr. Demirchyan informed that the People’s Party is ready to participate
in the elections alone, but he did not exclude the possibility of
creating alliances.
At present together with the “Orinats Yerkir” and the National Unity
the People’s Party is going to make a joint offer about the order of
formation of the Electoral Committees. “All the political powers must
be equally represented in the Electoral Committees”.
The leader of the People’s party underlined that they are participating
in the elections in order to win.
The party is not going to bribe people. “During the previous elections
they distributed money and seeds to the people, but still the people
made their choice. We trust our people”.
The journalists also tried to find out what can unite Demirchyan and
Serge Sargsyan for the sake of the bright future of Armenia. “Nothing
at all. Let the present authorities leave, for the sake of the bright
future of Armenia”, Stepan Demirchyan said.