ArmInfo. The Anti-Corruption Coalition of Civil Society Organizations announced that it will not participate in the formation of the competition council for the election of the Head of the Anti-Corruption Committee of Armenia.
The statement of the CSO Anti-Corruption Coalition of Armenian notes that the Coalition not understand and questions the government's haste during the election campaign. Therefore, the Coalition calls on the Government to refrain from holding the aforementioned competition and holding political appointments under this sauce until the end of the early parliamentary elections and the formation of a new composition of the National Assembly.
The statement notes that according to the RA Law "On the Anti-Corruption Committee", a competition council is formed to elect candidates for the post of chairman of the Anti-Corruption Committee. The council is formed by one candidate nominated by the Government, the Council of the National Assembly, the Supreme Judicial Council, the Prosecutor General, the Human Rights Defender and two representatives of civil society.
Earlier, the Coalition expressed a negative opinion on the appointment of the Chairman of the Anti-Corruption Committee, other officials and on important provisions, since this is nothing more than a political appointment of one person under the leadership of the Prime Minister. This indicates the presence of a collective party-group interest. Initially, this formulation of the law does not meet the important criteria set out in the Jakarta Declaration on the principles of anti-corruption bodies, such as impartiality, neutrality, honesty and competence, independence and political neutrality. Consequently, the formation of anti-corruption bodies based on corrupt behavior and conflicts of interest is initially doomed to failure, the statement says.
To note, the CSO Anti-Corruption Coalition of Armenian was founded in 2014. Currently, 71 civil society organizations are members of the Coalition, and the Bar Association of Armenia performs the functions of the Secretariat.