“The foremost precondition to ensure active participation of the public in the legislative sector is public awareness,” Mr. Karen Zadoyan, President of the Armenian Lawyers’ Association said today at the working meeting “Recommendations: Draft Regulatory-Reforms” Road-map for Armenia.”
“We know many cases that in the RA the awareness is not done or is carried out or improperly, therefore it is not possible to make public participation effective,” he said.
One of the major issues is the study and discussion of in the expectations of the public interest. “A number of laws do not represent the public interest and expectations, so they actually turn into a piece of paper and have nothing to do with the real life,” assured the rapporteur.
It is also the conducts the impact assessment of the regulatory legal acts and identification of the potential risks, and implement neutralization. This provision is not implemented in our reality.
According to Karen Zadoyan, the development of the Awareness Institute of Public Discussions is on the low level. In addition, many discussions are artificial. “The Public authorities feel bound to participate in such discussions only when the representatives of international organizations attend those,” said the speaker.
At the same time, the ALA President mentioned that there are Government agencies which have brought such discussions to a more professional bases making them participatory. “I can point out the Ministry of Justice, which have a compulsory section in their website, where they publish all drafts, update them and discuss. There are other departments as well. We should be able to have real conversations instead of the formal discussions, because they are important for our state.”
The mechanisms of effective cooperation between government and civil society are also missing in terms of public discussions.
According to the rapporteur in order to solve all these problems we need efficient and effective systems
To solve all these problems, according to him, the awareness needs to be efficient and effective systems and it is necessary to establish Government – CSOs Cooperation Systems and working groups, as well as to implement system reforms in the state bodies and local government institutions.
He also stressed that the formation of an Internet platform will have a great influence on the increase of the efficiency of public discussions, where all projects, where all projects will be included, regardless of their preparedness state, will be included.
Citing own experience, Mr. Zadoyan noted that an effective model for this is when the civil society begins to work with the government.
According to the human rights activist Artak Zeynalyan, the public consultation reveal the legislator’s will. He gave the example of the Law on State Duty, which, according to him, was amended for more than 160 times. “The amendment is made merely based on the whims or emotions of just one or two persons. The public here has had no involvement in any form. The public debates are extremely important.”
G.T.
