OSCE promotes free access to Government-held information in Armenia

A two-day training course, the first in a series of three, entitled “Promoting Free Access to Government-Held Information”, organized by the OSCE Office in Yerevan jointly with the Armenian Justice Ministry, was launched on 5 April 2016 in the capital.

Some 25 newly-appointed Freedom of Information Officers from government agencies took part and learned the national and international legal framework regulating access to information and how to effectively address the practical issues in the daily work of freedom of information officers.

This capacity-building training series, which will eventually train some 80 officers, was developed following the adoption of new subsidiary legislation in August 2015 streamlining the classification, maintenance and provision of information from the government to the public.

“Free access to government-held information is key to exercising other human rights and for the democratic functioning of any state,” said David Gullette, Democratization Programme Officer of the OSCE Office in Yerevan. “We hope that this series of training courses for government Freedom of Information Officers will assist them in the important process of increasing the openness and transparency of Armenia’s state bodies.”

Suren Krmoyan, Armenia’s Deputy Justice Minister, said: “The freedom of seeking, receiving and disseminating information provides the public with an opportunity to scrutinize the activities of government agencies, promoting the transparency of these agencies and integrity of public officials.  Open governance is possible only through the fully-fledged availability of information.”

It is expected that the findings of the training series will help inform governmental policies in the field of freedom of information, updating policies with the requirements of the digital age and harmonizing them with international standards.