Wednesday, February 1 2017 14:24

ArmInfo. The Delegation of the European Union (EU) to Armenia launched a communication campaign today to raise awareness of the negative effects of corruption and highlight EU's efforts in support of the fight against corruption in  Armenia, the press office of the EU Delegation reports.

The campaign "Stop the Flow of Corruption", developed in cooperation  with the Government of Armenia, anti-corruption experts,  representatives of the civil society and the private sector, portrays  typical examples of corruption (i.e. bribery, conflict of interests,  oligopoly) and their harmful effects to the economic growth. It also  shows what the EU and Armenia are doing together for reducing  corruption within the society. 

"Fight against corruption is a priority for the European Union in  Armenia. It is the central element in ensuring sustainable growth and  building a just Armenian society and a democratic political system",  said the EU Ambassador to Armenia Piotr Switalski. "I hope that with  the help of depicting corruption as monsters, this campaign will  raise awareness among young people as well as grown-ups that  corruption has a direct negative effect on their future."

Armenian Deputy Minister of Justice Suren Krmoyan said, "The current  challenges of the anti-corruption struggle make us develop an  innovative vision, based on the approaches of the application of  electronic management tools and introduction of participatory,  accountable and transparent electronic system management."

Karen Zadoyan, Chairman of the Armenian Lawyers' Association, said,  "The Armenian Lawyers' Association has recently completed the  "Multi-Faceted Anti-Corruption Promotion" Project that was  implemented with financial support from the European Union. The  project proved to be very successful. Among the success stories  achieved, it is worth mentioning the establishment of the CSO  Anti-Corruption Coalition of Armenia that is currently working  effectively. Additionally, illicit enrichment was criminalised in  Armenia and two independent anti-corruption agency models were  jointly drafted and presented to the Government. The legislation on  the future anti-corruption agency is currently being developed". 

The campaign will continue throughout 2017 bringing attention to  different aspects of corruption and show how it is being fought in  Armenia.

To note, Armenia's 2016 Corruption Perception Index (CPI) score is 33  and it shares with Bolivia and Vietnam 113th to 115th places among  176 in the CPI 2016 ranking table. In 2015 Armenia's CPI score was 35  and with this score it was sharing 95th to 98th places among 168  countries. Among its neighbors Armenia continues to lag behind also  from Turkey (2016 CPI score is 41 compared to 42 in 2015), which  continues its downslide since 2012, when its score was equal to 49.  Two other neighbors of Armenia, namely Azerbaijan and Iran, improved  their scores by 1 and 2 points, respectively, though still staying  behind Armenia. With its CPI score equal to 30, Azerbaijan now shares  123rd to 130th places and Iran with its CPI score equal to 29 shares  131st to 135th places. The CPI scores of all other member states of  the Eurasian Economic Union, except Belarus, are still lower, than  that of Armenia. In particular, Russia's CPI score remained equal to  29 (131rd to 135th places). Kyrgyzstan's score also remained the  same, as in 2015, and is equal to 28 (136th to 141st places), and  Kazakhstan's score improved by 1 point, reaching 29 (131st to 135th  places).