ArmInfo.The U.S. Embassy witnessed some troubling trends in the areas of human rights and rule of law over the past 15 months that give cause for real concern, U.S. Ambassador to Armenia Richard Mills said in his remarks to American Chamber of Commerce of Armenia in Yerevan on Feb 1.
"Despite some progress and notable success stories which give reason for hope, we have also witnessed some troubling trends in the areas of human rights and rule of law. Let me first mention some of Armenia's very laudable successes in this area. One of the most impressive is the fact that it retained its status as a Tier I country in the State Department's Trafficking in Persons Report for the fourth straight year, thanks in large part to its interagency working group, which is a model of cooperation between the government and civil society," the Ambassador said.
Richard Mills noted that with regard to the constitutional referendum of December 2015, the Embassy was deeply concerned about the credible allegations of electoral fraud that came from non-partisan observers, media, and civil society. "Following the constitutional referendum, I very much welcomed President Sargsyan's public commitment to address the public's lack of trust in the electoral process. I agree with the President's characterization that these elections will shape the future of Armenia and it is crucial they be free and fair, and that the Armenian people have confidence in the results. To help make the Armenian government's public commitment to credible elections a reality, USAID - in partnership with the European Union, the UK, Germany, and the UN Mission to Armenia - has provided financial support for the new voting processes and electoral equipment agreed upon by the government, political opposition, and civil society last year, unprecedented agreements that required compromises on all sides. These measures will make possible same-day voter authentication and the publication of signed voter lists after the elections. But let me be clear: these additional measures cannot, by themselves, guarantee free and fair elections," he said.
Ambassador Mills thinks that those measures can make the electoral process more transparent and make it more costly to commit fraud, but the elections will be free and fair only if the government demonstrates the political will to make them so, and if the political opposition and civil society act to safeguard the process. "For free and fair elections to take place, the government must also create a climate in which media and civil society are free, independent, and unfettered. We have recently heard intimations of increased pressure on media and civil society that seems designed to constrain their freedom of expression and redirect critical editorial views in advance of the parliamentary elections this spring. If true, this would be very worrying and would further erode Armenia's standing in reports issued by international organizations on press freedoms worldwide. We do take the government at its word that it intends to conduct free and fair elections, just as we take the opposition parties and civil society at their word that they intend to play a constructive role in the process, and this is something we'll be watching closely over the next few months," he said.
Richard Mills also addressed the events of Erebuni (seizure of a police compound by Sasna Tsrer (Daredevils of Sassoon) - editor's note) last July. "During much of the 15-day standoff, Armenia's law enforcement struck a good balance in terms of securing Armenians' safety and security around an active site, while defending Armenians' rights to peacefully protest. However, we were deeply concerned by the credible reports of excessive use of force used by the police against unarmed protestors and journalists on July 29-30. We made our concerns clear at that time, noting that such actions violated press freedom and the rights of Armenian citizens to the freedom of expression and of peaceful assembly," Ambassador Mills said. Another area of concern which the fallout of Erebuni highlighted, has been the Government's use of pre-trial detention, he said. "I will be frank that in the case of Erebuni and other politically sensitive cases this year, we are concerned by the pre- trial detentions of several defendants who participated in the demonstrations or are suspected of giving non-violent support to the militants, but were not involved in the actual armed seizure of the police station or in the deaths of the policemen. Let me be clear, my intention in mentioning these cases is not to prejudge their guilt or innocence, but to emphasize that each pre-trial detention decision must be based on a strong, fully transparent legal rationale," he noted.