Armenia ranks 46th among 161 countries in Article19 freedom of  expression ranking

ArmInfo.The UK Article 19 human rights organization has published a ranking regarding freedom of expression in the world (based on the results of 2021), according  to which, Armenia took 46th place among 161 countries, being in the  category of less restricted countries. Ashot Melikyan,  Chairman of  Committee to Protect Freedom of Expression (CPFE) stated during a  press conference on January 27.

Thus, according to him, Armenia is ahead of its neighbors, in  particular Iran (ranked 143rd), Azerbaijan (136th) and Turkey  (141st). <But these are countries that are in the category of  "crisis". Therefore, we must compare ourselves with more developed,  more democratic countries. We should strive to improve the situation  and create more favorable conditions for the work of the media>,  Melikyan said.

It should be noted that among the neighboring countries, only Georgia  was ahead of Armenia (43rd).  Among the EAEU countries, the states  were ranked as follows: Kyrgyzstan ranked 94th, Kazakhstan - 123rd,  Belarus - 157th. Russia was not included in the current rating,  having taken 128th place in the previous period. And Armenia was in  39th place in 2020, thus appearing in the green category of the Open.

The leaders of the rating are Denmark, Switzerland and Sweden, the  last positions are occupied by North Korea, Turkmenistan and Syria.

During a press conference, Ashot Melikyan, referring to the situation  in Armenia in 2022, noted that the year turned out to be quite tense  for media representatives. In general, according to him, there were  14 cases of physical violence against journalists (with a y-o-y  decrease of 22%), as a result of which 16 people were injured. In  addition, during the reporting period, 55 cases of pressure on the  media and their employees were recorded (a y-o-y decline of 49%) and  115 cases of violation of the rights to receive and disseminate  information a (y-o-y increase of 16%). "The most problematic was the  segment related to the violation of the rights to receive and  disseminate information. We are watching how it becomes more and more  difficult to get the necessary information from government agencies.  Therefore, the country's authorities should implement a large amount  of work in the context of institutional decision-making and personnel  training," the head of the Committee said.

At the same time, he said that at the end of the past year, 32  lawsuits were filed against journalists and the media (which is  2-fold lower than in 2021), of which more than 90% relate to insult  and slander.