“Our position remains the same;”said the Executive Director of TI ACC Mr. Hoktanyan in response to Iravaban.net’s question whether the Center had changed its position on the involvement in the Anti-Corruption Council or prefer to stay as an observer.
The RA Ministry of Justice issued a statement, which marked the beginning of the competition for CSOs for participation in the Anti-Corruption Council. “We shall not participate in the competition. If we have said that we shall participate as observers, so our position is the same and we are not going to change it,” Mr Hoktanyan said.
It is due to note that the CSOs that are eligible to participate in the competition shall meet definite criteria: they shall have at least five years of experience in the field of anti-corruption; the fight against corruption is mentioned in the charter and mentioned as a destination in the activities; have at least five years of experience during the last years in the field of anti-corruption with the international organizations; will present information about at least 5 sector-specific projects implemented with the international organizations and/or on own initiative; present recommendation provided by the partner organization regarding the effectiveness of the projects implemented with the international structures.
In addition, the Anti-Corruption Coalition which joins more than 70 NGOs refused to participate in the Council. The Public Network for Cooperation with State Authorities of around 150 NGOs also issued a statement on its refusal to participate in the competition.
