Alternative Public Monitoring Report on the Implementation of Action Plans for 2019-2021 deriving from the 2019-2023 Strategy for Judicial and Legal Reforms of the Republic of Armenia, which has been prepared by the Armenian Lawyers’ Association has been published (available in Armenian language).
In order to make the monitoring as participatory and effective as possible, 12 focus group discussions were conducted, among other tools, with the participation of the competent authorities responsible for implementation of the actions under the Strategy for 2019-2022, as well as specialized CSOs, sectoral experts, advocates and other stakeholders. .
In addition to presenting the monitoring activities, the report also presented methodological considerations and recommendations by sectors.
According to the action plans deriving from the strategy, 103 actions and sub-actions were calculated, of which only 32% were performed within the deadline. More than half of the actions, 56% were not performed, and about 10% were performed with a certain or significant violation of the deadline. The legal analysis of some of the actions, as well as the non-complete execution of the actions allows concluding that the goals set by the Strategy have not been achieved. In particular the independence and impartiality of the judiciary has not been strengthened, mechanisms for public accountability of the judiciary have not been improved, and the legislative reforms were not implemented in the envisaged volumes and content.
The results of the monitoring were also published in the form of digital indicators.
| Number of planned actions | 103 | 100% |
| of which performed within the deadline | 33 | 32% |
| of which performed with certain violation of deadline | 7 | 6% |
| of which performed with significant violation of the deadline | 2 | 2% |
| of which not performed | 58 | 56% |
| of which there is no information about the action | 4 | 4% |
As a result of the quantitative evaluation of the strategy actions, the following goals with 50% and more performance indicators were separated and subjected to legal analysis: “4. Electoral Legislation”, “5. Strengthening the independence and impartiality of the judiciary”, “5, 6, 7. Strengthening the independence and impartiality of the judiciary, improvement of mechanisms for public accountability of the judiciary and a judicial system free of corruption and sponsorship”, “11. Reform of the criminal and criminal procedure legislation”. The actions taken under the strategic directions, in terms of compliance and completeness of these strategic goals and strategic directions, were assessed as “not comply and not complete.”
Considering the rather low performance indicators of the Strategy and the deriving actions, and the inconsistent and incomplete results of the strategic goals and the level of impact under the separated and legally analyzed strategic directions, the Armenian Lawyers’ Association propose to develop a completely new five-year Judicial and Legal Reform Strategy, based on the observations, shortcomings and recommendations raised in this report, including proposals for review of actions that are not performed, ensuring high participation level in the process with the involvement of all actors in the field.
It should also be noted that the initially it was scheduled to submit the first draft of the monitoring results to stakeholders by 15 April, 2022. However, taking into account the request of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Armenia, if possible, provide the draft report in March for its consideration in the development of the new Strategy, therefore, the first draft of the report was ready on 10 March, 2022, and was put into circulation on 15 March of the same year. It was also sent to the relevant authorities and organizations to collect opinions, positions and suggestions on the draft. Some positions and proposals of the competent bodies and organizations were accepted by the ALA and included in the final version of the report.
Let us also add that the presentation of the report will take place in June. Additional information on the date will be provided to all interested parties.
