Ms Satik Badeyan, President of “Regional Development and Research” NGO, will chair the Governing Board of Armenian CSOs Anti-Corruption Coalition. On 29 March the members of Governing Board unanimously elected the new Chairman of the Board.
In addition to the election of the Chairman of the Governing Board, the agenda included also discussion and development of common position on the agenda of the next meeting. The participants discussed the New Draft Law on Prevention of Corruption and the Corruption Prevention Body and to submit opinion about it.
Mr. Karen Zadoyan, ALA President and Coordinator of the CSOs’ Anti-Corruption Coalition Secretariat said that in the scope of cooperation with the Government, the Anti-Corruption Council instructed the Minister of Justice to explore the experience of independent anti-corruption bodies (universal and preventive) and present the strengths and weaknesses of both options.
However the current Draft Law on Prevention of Corruption and the Corruption Prevention Body, which is presented to public discussions, is not in line with the UN Convention against Corruption and Jakarta Anti-Corruption Principles. Specifically, the draft law does not ensure independence of the body.
The meeting discussed the corruption risks issues identified in the areas of medical expertise as well. Mr. Ara Melikjanyan, President of “Logos” Youth NGO said that they had studied the Georgian experience for reducing corruption risks and ineffective costs. He added that the Georgian experience may be applied in our county as well, for example in different settlements the MES agencies were liquidated and their work is carried out by the medical centers.
Ms Satik Badeyan, President of “Regional Development and Research” NGO presented the corruption risks that their organization had identified in the procurement process of drugs by the state. She mentioned that in these cases the state gave preference to cheap medicines, but patients often refuse to receive them because of their quality or non compliance.
It was decided that the research results conducted in these areas also will be circulated among the coalition members to provide final opinion on them.
Mr. Karen Zadoyan, ALA President and Coordinator of the CSOs’ Anti-Corruption Coalition Secretariat familiarized the participants with the results of the meeting of Anti-Corruption Council, which took place on February 17. He had presented the results of conducted studies related to the corruption risks in taxation, customs and State procurement areas, and the corruption risks and issues that exist in the sphere of funerals as well.
In fact, a considerable part of the recommendations of the customs and taxation spheres are acceptable, some are implemented and another part is in the execution phase, as Mariam Zadoyan, member of the working group of CSO-Business-SRC of the Coalition said.
In conclusion, the Governing Board decided to convene the next general meeting of coalition members on 12 May, 2017.
