Today, on 9 December, the Armenian Lawyers’ Association organized an annual event dedicated to the International Anti-Corruption Day.

At the beginning of the event, Mr. Karen Zadoyan the President of the Armenian Lawyers’ Association offered to observe a minute of silence in memory of our compatriots who died in the 44-day Artsakh war.

H.E. Mr. Patrik Svensson, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Kingdom of Sweden in Armenia, and Mr. Razmik Sargsyan, Political affairs officer of Embassy of Sweden in Yerevan, as well as the graduates of the 5th, and 6th advanced training courses of the Anti-Corruption School for Young Leaders, Students of the Anti-Corruption Clubs, the winners of essay and drawing competitions entitled “Corruption through the eyes of students” attended the event.

In his opening remarks, Karen Zadoyan, President of the Armenian Lawyers’ Association, noted that in these difficult conditions, the “Youth4Anti-Corruption” project was implemented in good faith, in timely manner and was able to achieve all the project results that had been outlined. Moreover, a number of additional results have been achieved, which will definitely be presented today during this event.

“The 2020 was a difficult year, a pandemic caused by COVID-19, an unjust war imposed on us by the corrupt, authoritarian regime of Azerbaijan and its partners, resulting in many casualties, people with disabilities, refugees.

Dear youth and students, the success of the program has been achieved largely thanks to you, as you realize the importance of honesty and integrity; honestly and diligently approached the opportunities provided by the project and tried to get the most out of the program in terms of anti-corruption knowledge, information and skills. I am confident that starting today you will contribute to our common cause of building a clean and corruption-free Armenia,” he said.

The ALA President also thanked the Swedish Ambassador to Armenia for the support provided by the Swedish Government to the “Youth4Anti-Corruption” project.

In his speech, Mr. Patrik Svensson, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Kingdom of Sweden in Armenia, noted the activity and participation of the youth in such initiatives, and praised the results of the “Youth4Anti-Corruption” project implemented with the support of the Swedish Government.

Mr. Patrik Svensson was interested in the corruption challenges that young people face in their daily lives.

“What is being called for is a new vision — one which embraces co-existence and co-creation over domination and exploitation that is often carried out through corruption. We have no choice but to take the frustration that we feel and try to transform that same energy into new solutions.
This is where I feel you will have a big role to play. One of the reasons we support initiatives such as this one is that we want you to be equipped with tools that will enable you to think thoughts that have not been thought before, to act with enhanced energy and strategy, and most importantly- to do it collectively.” he said.

Ms Mariam Zakaryan, Lawyer/Program Assistant of the “Youth4Anti-Corruption” project, presented the work done within the framework of the program since June. She stressed that working under the situation of COVID-19 and war was a challenge that was successfully overcome.

“In these conditions, we were able to involve 260 young students, who are currently receiving anti-corruption education on the online anti-corruption training platform launched by the Armenian Lawyers’ Association. The project also has ensured equal gender as well as regional representation,” she said.

During the event, the works of the winners of the essay and drawing competitions entitled “Corruption through the eyes of students” held within the framework of the members of the regional student anti-corruption clubs were presented, certificates were handed to the participants who were awarded the 1st, 2nd and 3rd places.

Graduation diplomas were awarded to the graduates of the 5th and 6th streams of the Anti-Corruption School for Young Leaders. In addition, the graduates of the 6th stream presented the results of the work done within the framework of their group scholarships.