Author: Khondkarian Raffi

Today, the European Union has published a comprehensive report on the Generalised Scheme of Preferences Plus (GSP+) for the period 2014-2015. The report is a prime example of how the European Union strengthens trade relations with partner countries, such as Armenia while insisting on sustainable development and governance reforms.

The EU’s Generalised Scheme of Preferences (GSP) is designed to help partner countries develop their economies through benefitting from international trade. It grants reduced or zero tariffs on imports to the EU, making access to EU markets easier. Thus the GSP helps generate new business opportunities and trade revenues, which contribute to boosting economic growth, creating new employment opportunities and reducing poverty in beneficiary countries.

In particular, the GSP+ Special Arrangement for Sustainable Development and Good Governance provides additional support (full tariff removals) to countries which ratify and effectively implement 27 core international conventions on human rights, labour rights, good governance and environmental protection. Since the GSP reform applied as from 1 January 2014, the EU undertakes enhanced monitoring of the GSP+ beneficiaries’ compliance with these obligations with a view to support their efforts to improve the implementation of the conventions. Armenia benefits from the reformed GSP+ as from the start of its application.

The present first bi-annual report on the reformed GSP+ functioning examines how Armenia implemented its binding commitments made when entering the GSP+, in particular ratification and effective implementation of the relevant international conventions, reporting to the international monitoring bodies and cooperation with the EU side in its monitoring process. The report concludes that during the first GSP+ monitoring cycle, Armenia demonstrated genuine efforts to comply with its committments. At the same time, Armenia has to continue and in some cases step up its work to further improve its implementation of the conventions – not least striving to ensure that Armenian citizens experience human rights protection improvements in their everyday life – in order to keep the GSP+ benefits.

In particular, in 2014-2015, Armenia made an overall effort to address the shortcomings identified in its implementation of the conventions, primarily related to missing or inadequate legislation and awareness rising. At the same time, Armenia needs to further step up its efforts to effectively address several persisting human rights problems, in particular regarding the independence and integrity of the judiciary and of the political system as a whole, the insufficient legislative and enforcement framework against torture and ill treatment, widespread corruption, discrimination against minorities, discrimination and violence against women and child poverty. Regarding labour rights, Armenia’s legislation and practice on the official labour market are broadly in line with the ILO fundamental conventions. However, both should be improved on a number of points, in particular the freedom of association for employers and workers, more regular and effective labour inspection and prevention of discrimination at workplace. Armenia should also make more efforts to curtail unregulated employment. Armenia continued to make efforts to protect the environment through implementation of the legal framework and introduction of new specific legislation in several sectors (e.g. air, water, nature protection). Overall, Armenia takes good advantage of the EU substantial assistance on environmental protection and tackling of climate change and intends to continue doing so also to support its future priorities and objectives in these areas.

Based on the report´s findings, priority actions will be identified at the beginning of the next two-year monitoring cycle in 2016. While these may reflect deep-rooted and long-term issues, clear evidence of concrete progress to tackle these shortcomings will be expected over the next monitoring period. A number of projects can be launched to build Armenia’s capacity in meeting its GSP+ obligations.

Close cooperation with a wide range of partners is crucial to the success of the GSP+,. Apart from the Armenian authorities, the EU works with local and international human and labour rights experts and engages in an active dialogue with the civil society organizations in Armenia. In many cases, the civil society has welcomed the GSP+ arrangement as an incentive for change.

The next report on Armenia’s compliance with its GSP+ commitments will be published by November 2017.

The conventions covered by the GSP+ are grouped in the following four themes:

1) seven conventions on human rights protection (against torture, anti-discrimination, rights of women, children, and minorities, civil and political rights including freedom of expression and association, right to a fair trial and judicial independence);

2) eight International Labour Organisation’s conventions on labour rights (against forced labour and child labour, workers’ rights to collectively organise and bargain, against discrimination at work and equal pay for men and women);

3) eight conventions on environmental protection and climate change (to monitor hazardous waste and harmful pollutants, to safeguard biodiversity and endangered species and to tackle climate change); and

4) four conventions on good governance (to support countries to strengthen their governance and institutions – the UN convention against Corruption, as well as three UN conventions seeking to control illegal drugs).

GSP+ has a significant trade and economic importance for Armenia. In 2014, approximately 60 million EUR (equivalent of 32 billion AMD) worth export, which constituted 26% of the total Armenian export to the EU (228 million EUR or 120 billion AMD), benefitted from the GSP+ preferences and so were exported with zero tariffs. The picture further improved in the first half of 2015 when 58 million EUR (31 billion AMD) worth Armenian export to the EU benefitted from the GSP+ arrangement. This represents already 41 % of the total Armenian export to the EU (144 million EUR or 76 billion AMD).

Moreover, a large majority of the Armenian businesses exporting to the EU that can make use of the GSP+ actually used that opportunity and were granted duty free market access in 2014-2015. Armenia uses the GSP+ in particular in these export sectors: clothing, aluminium, crayfish, juices, jams and other processed food, nuts and other seeds.

Fifty-seven casualties were reported in the Armand Forces of Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh last year, Spokesman for the Armenian Minister of Defense Artsrun Hovhannisyan said in a Facebook post.

He added that 38 soldiers were killed at the line of contact by Azerbaijani snipers or as a result of infringement attempts and other actions of the rival. Two were killed in traffic accidents, another two because of diseases.

One case of murder was registered. Six servicemen committed or were forced to commit suicide. Four died because of accidents.

In three cases the servicemen violated the rules of military duty and one death resulted from mine blast.

The so-called Islamic State (IS) was behind a series of explosions and gun attacks in the capital Jakarta, an IS-linked news agency and police say, the BBC reports.

At least two civilians and five attackers died in the assaults, described as an attempt to mimic the deadly Paris attacks.

Security forces battled militants for hours, with the attacks centring on a major business and shopping district.

It follows warnings late last year that Islamists were planning a major attack.

US Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group James Warlick had a meeting with UK Minister for Europe David Lidington.

Discussions focused on the settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict.

– On Wednesday, January 6, the newly established Football Federation of Western Armenia played its first friendly match against Olympique de Marseille (CFA) where they were short of a comeback and lost 3-2.

Vahagn Militosyan became the first ever scorer for the club as he scored the two goals of the match for Western Armenia.

Recently, the Western Armenian squad was seen at its first training session practicing for their upcoming match in France.

The Football Federation of Western Armenia was established in 2015. It became an official member of the Confederation of Independent Football Associations (ConIFA) on June 1, 2015. The Artsakh national soccer team is also part ConIFA.

This football federation aims to unite all football players who make up the Armenia Diaspora with the sport of soccer. Currently, the team consists of players from Yerevan, Istanbul, and from different diasporas around the world who’s families have originated from Western Armenia.

If you wish to find out more about the Football Federation of Western Armenia, visit their website at .

Happy New Year and Merry Christmas!

From Leigh and all my colleagues at the U.S. Embassy, I want to thank everyone in Armenia for giving me and Leigh one of the best years of our lives, since we arrived here in February 2015. I arrived with a video in which I quoted an American painter, Rockwell Kent, who described Armenia as a place full of wonders. And in the last ten months, I understand exactly what Mr. Kent means. I have seen wonderful wonders here in Armenia, from the monastery Geghard to the frescos in Meghri to the fountains in Yerevan Square. But, I think what’s made the most impression on me and my wife is the wonder of the Armenian people, who have been so kind, so open, and so warm to us since we have arrived. And it is a memory that will stay with me, this year and throughout my life. What I wish, I think when I look ahead to the New Year, is something that was expressed to me by a young Armenian who was participating in the Special Olympics program, which I think as many of you know, is a program designed for mentally challenged young people and gives them  a chance to participate in sports. This young Armenian, I believe he is about 14 or 15, had just come back from Los Angeles, where he has been on the Armenian National Special Olympics team. And I asked him: Why it was important for him to have been on the Special Olympics team. And this young boy, whose name was Armen, said to me: “Mr. Ambassador, it made my parents very proud and whatever happens in my life it will get me confidence knowing that I once did this hard thing.”  And I think, as I go into 2016, I am going to live by Armen’s words. I’m going to ask myself am I, is the Embassy, are we doing things that will make our parents proud? The most important, I am going to say: let’s have confidence, let’s have confidence to try some hard things. Because we’ve done some good things, working together with the Armenian people. And because I know how much the Armenian people have accomplished here over the last 24 year of independence, it gives me great hope for 2016. And I hope, as well, that you share that. Best wishes and a Happy, Happy New Year.

The NKR Ministry of Defense reports a decrease in the number of ceasefire violations by the Azerbaijani side at the line of contact with the Karabakh forces.

The rival used mostly artillery weapons of different caliber as it fired about 1,000 shots in the direction of the Armenian positions.

The front divisions of the NKR Defense Army maintained the relative calmness at the frontline and confidently fulfilled their military task.

President Serzh Sargsyan met today with the Minister for National Defense of the Hellenic Republic Panos Kammenos. The President welcomed the guest and expressed hope that the Greek Minister will have constructive and productive meetings in Yerevan, giving a new impetus to the cooperation of the two friendly states in the area of defense, which has traditionally been one of the cornerstones of the Armenian-Greek interstate relations.

Underlining that warm relations between Armenia and Greece were formed on a strong historical basis, Serzh Sargsyan stressed the importance of common approaches towards different issues of international agenda, as well as the role of Greece in the context of Armenia-EU and RA-NATO relations, cooperation in the area of peacekeeping.

The President highly valued regular reciprocal visits between the Defense Ministries of the two countries, which allow to discuss prospects of cooperation in bilateral as well as multilateral formats, and welcomed agreements reached during Minister Kammenos’s visit aimed at deepening and invigorating the bilateral cooperation.

The Minister for National Defense of Greece thanked the President for the warm welcome he received in Armenia and for the mutual readiness to develop cooperation in the area of defense. He assured the President of Armenia that excellent cooperation has already been established with the Ministry of Defense of Armenia and that the Armenian-Greek military and technical cooperation will continue to grow through the mutual efforts, including areas of military education and peacekeeping.

At the meeting, the parties spoke also about the regional as well as international security issues and challenges, and the current stage of the NK peace process.

 

The European Court of Human Rights ruled on Dec. 1 that Turkey had violated conventions on freedom of expression when it banned YouTube for more than two years until late 2010, the

An Ankara court had barred access to the video-sharing site from May 2008 to October 2010 over 10 videos deemed insulting to modern Turkey’s founding father Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the Strasbourg-based rights tribunal said.

“Blocking without a legal basis users’ access to YouTube infringed the right to receive and impart information,” it said, ruling on a case brought by three Turkish law professors.

“The court also found that there was no provision in the law allowing the domestic courts to impose a blanket blocking order on access to the Internet, and in the present case to YouTube, on account of one of its contents.”

The lengthy ban on YouTube — and thousands of other websites — had prompted widespread concern about freedom of expression under then prime minister and now President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who critics say has become increasingly authoritarian.

Before the ban, YouTube had been the fifth most popular site in Turkey.

The Justice and Development Party (AKP) government also blocked Twitter and YouTube in March 2014 after they were used to spread a torrent of audio recordings implicating Erdoğan and his inner circle in the country’s largest graft probe.

A €4.3 million project promoting more secure and easy traffic between the border of Georgia and Armenia is coming to its end, according to Georgia Today.

On November 25th, a summary conference in Tbilisi will bring together representatives of border management agencies in Georgia and Armenia and also international organizations.

The delegation of the European Union to Georgia, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Ministry of Finance of Georgia and Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia are completing a project to assist the governments of Armenia and Georgia in reducing the barriers for trade, transit and movements of people acrodd the Bagratashen-Sadakhlo border.

The project helped the governments of the two countries to tackle smuggling and trafficking, ease people’s movement at the border crossing point, equip and train border guards and promote professional cooperation between the border management agencies of Armenia and Georgia.

The European Union and UNDP also assisted the Government of Georgia to prepare and endorse the Border Management Strategy of Georgia from 2014-2018.

The initiative at the Bagratashen-Sadakhlo border crossing point is part of the European Union assistance program to the South Caucasus countries to help introduce Integrated Border Management recognised as one of the most effective tools to maintain open but secure and controlled borders.

A similar project is being implemented at the land border between Azerbaijan and Georgia.