RFE/RL reports that the international human rights organization Human Rights Watch has urged the Armenian National Assembly not to adopt legislation which would effectively restrict and frustrate the operation of the Prague-based media outlet in Armenia. Given that almost everybody both inside and outside the country who believes in democratization and a free media is of the same opinion, will government lawmakers now risk dirtying the country’s image abroad by adopting the bill in its second reading?

Human Rights Watch (HRW) is urging the Armenian parliament not to pass a bill that would impose severe restrictions on foreign broadcasters in the country, particularly RFE/RL.

The U.S.-based human rights group said in a statement that the bill would “clearly restrict access to a crucial independent news source” and deal a blow to “RFE/RL and to freedom of the media in general.”

RFE/RL President Jeffrey Gedmin said in a statement that passage of the bill would “set a dangerous precedent for public media in all of the countries of the former Soviet Union.”

Gedmin expressed the hope that “Armenia’s parliamentarians will reconsider their support for this flawed bill.”

The proposal would block access to certain frequencies and heavily fine the domestic retransmission of foreign-made broadcast programs.

It would also impose a tax of 70,000 Armenian drams, or more than $200, per program per day for every time a private station rebroadcast a foreign-produced program.

The bill has drawn sharp criticism from the OSCE, media rights groups, and Armenian opposition leaders.

The parliament in Yerevan on June 29 passed the bill but must confirm that vote in a second reading expected on July 2.

RFE/RL reports that the bill which many media observers believe will be used to restrict and limit their work in Armenia has been passed by the newly elected National Assembly. The bill was passed by 79 votes to 16 with 1 abstention and it should come as no surprise that those voting for the legislative changes were deputies from governmental parties.

The deputies who approved the bill are mainly affiliated with Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian’s Republican Party (HHK) and its junior coalition partners, the Prosperous Armenia Party and the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun). They are expected to pass it in the second, final reading early next week.

Voting against were deputies representing the opposition Zharangutyun, Orinats Yerkir and Dashink parties as well as two independent lawmakers. The Zharangutyun and Orinats Yerkir factions condemned the bill during Thursday’s heated parliament debates, saying that it is aimed at muzzling what they call the only Armenian-language broadcaster not controlled by the government.

[…]

Still, parliament speaker Tigran Torosian insisted on Friday that the changes do not apply to RFE/RL because it does not have a broadcasting license and can therefore not be deemed a “broadcaster.” He repeated his arguments at a meeting with Anthony Godfrey, the U.S. charge d’affaires in Yerevan who expressed serious concern at the possible end of RFE/RL broadcasts in Armenia.

[…]

Godfrey refused to be drawn on what the U.S. might do if the state-run and private radio stations refuse to retransmit RFE/RL Armenian service programs. I don’t take hypothetical questions,” he said. “But I did express our concern to the speaker and he was very open to hearing our concerns.”

Meanwhile, leading Armenian media associations and other civic groups continued to voice alarm at the future of RFE/RL activities in the country. More than a dozen of them issued a joint statement shortly before the passage of the amendments.

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Nursery Home of Estery, Imereti Region, Republic of Georgia © Onnik Krikorian / NKA 2007

After putting together the audio photo slide show for the Newport Kutaisi Association, I’ve been informed that a mail shot has been sent out to councilors at Newport County Council informing them of the NKA’s continuing work in Georgia’s second largest city. Nice to see the slide show being linked to and promoted as a means of raising awareness of work being conducted by EveryChild and NKA.

Dear Councillor

Please link to the excellent slideshow of the Everychild project in Kutaisi, our twinned City in Georgia. The project is an example of what can be achieved in this emerging country with our support. Newport City Council is playing a major role in this success. The Social Work team under Penny Lloyd-Evans ran an intensive training programme in Newport for five key social workers from Kutaisi in the Imereti Region in June 2006. The experience and knowledge they took back is transforming the way orphans and children in care are treated in Georgia. Following the success of this project a high level mission from Georgia is visiting London next week and we have been invited to participate.

We commissioned Onnik Krikorian a British photojournalist based in Armenia to record the results so far. There is still a long way to go but with Newport City Council’s support in this project and their lead role in the Local Democracy Agency the future looks very bright.

Catherine Philpott,
Chair of Newport Kutaisi Association

Links:
Audio slideshow of Onnik Krikorian’s recent visit http://www.oneworld.am/photojournalism/kutaisi/
Everychild visit to Newport 2006 http://www.nkta.org/Whatachieved/Socialworkvist06.html
Local Democracy Agency: http://www.nkta.org/Aerilonline/Newonline/valmorbidareport.html

Incidentally, I’m interested in pursuing more work in Georgia as well as Armenia so any organizations, charities or media outlets interested in my ongoing work on key themes and issues such as poverty, children in institutions, mental health, democracy, landmines and minorities can contact me via the email address in the right hand column of this page.

Bambir, Puppet Theatre, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2007

Well, last night’s gig by the two Bambirs was a real killer of a show. Quite fantastic and only the second time I’ve seen them perform together since 2001 so it was also quite a unique event. Hopefully they’ll do more joint gigs, but until then, some photographs from last night to follow up pics of their rehearsal the previous day, and an excerpt on the history of the two bands, which cross two generations and which are both known as Bambir, from an article I wrote in 2005.

The name Bambir is derived from a little known traditional Armenian instrument similar to a cello piccolo, but just to confuse matters, it’s also the name of another folk-rock band that comes from Gyumri. Before Armenia declared its independence in 1991, it was this Bambir that was considered the best folk-rock band in the former Soviet Union, fusing Armenian and Celtic influences to seamless perfection.

No surprise then, that Barseghyan and Kocharyan are the 22-year-old sons of two members of the other Bambir, and that now, the name has been passed down to them to take to a new generation of rock fans in Armenia and beyond. […]

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Hot on the trial of a previous post which outlined Freedom House’s concerns about tendencies to limit media freedom in Russia and the CIS comes news that Armenia is following a path already being followed in other republics where media freedom and levels of democracy had been worse than here.

According to RFE/RL, a new bill aimed at restricting foreign broadcasting appears to be targeted specifically at them.

The National Assembly is due debate on Thursday government bills that could end the Armenian-language broadcasts of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, a key source of information for a considerable part of Armenia’s population.

The two bills sent to the parliament late on Tuesday were swiftly condemned by local media rights groups and top opposition leaders as an attempt to muzzle what they regard as the only electronic media outlet not controlled by the administration of President Robert Kocharian.

[…]

The opposition minority in the parliament was quick to condemn the bills, with Raffi Hovannisian, leader of the Zharangutyun (Heritage) party, saying that he fears that they are a prelude to ending RFE/RL broadcasts in Armenia.

“The prime minister and the government must be mindful of the goals and consequences of their legislative initiatives,” said Hovannisian. “Zharangutyun will vote against them. We consider this a blow to the interests of the Republic of Armenia and the rights of our citizens.”

The condemnation was echoed by virtually all other major opposition groups not represented in the recently elected legislature. “Radio Liberty is the only free broadcaster operating in Armenia,” said Vazgen Manukian of the National Democratic Union. “Shutting it down would mean shutting down Armenia. This would be the greatest disgrace of recent years.”

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Bambir Rehearsal, Shant TV Studio, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2007

Ahead of tomorrow’s joint concert by The Bambir and their earlier namesake at Yerevan’s Puppet Theatre, I had the opportunity to photograph the two bands as they rehearsed at the studio of Shant TV where they were also practising the sets they will perform with contestants competing for the apparently much coveted title of Hye Superstar. Although I’ve seen the two Bambirs perform together separately, this was the second time I’ve caught them performing together.

The first was in Shushi in 2001 (see here, here and here). Since then, after photographing and hanging out with Bambir the younger on many an occasion, it’s funny to remember guitarist Narek reminiscing about the advice his father, Jag from the original incarnation, gave him when he formed his first band with basist Arman in 1992.

NA (Narek & Arman) was formed at the end of 1992 when the older Bambir were in the United States. Barseghyan and Kocharyan decided to surprise their fathers by performing for them when they returned. Barseghyan’s father, however, was less than impressed, to put it mildly. Gagik Barseghyan, nicknamed Jag because of his love for the Rolling Stones, instead told them they’d never make good musicians.

Much better, he told the two budding musicians, to choose another career. “Something like agriculture, he suggested,” remembers Barseghyan, smiling.

Undaunted by parental displeasure, Barseghyan and Kocharyan wrote their first song, “I’m Crazy,” and it wasn’t long before they found another young musician to join the duo. During Christmas 1995, they discovered flautist Arik Grigoryan performing in a Gyumri restaurant. When the twelve year old said he liked the British folk-rock band Jethro Tull, that was all Barseghyan and Kocharyan needed to hear.

The newly formed trio started to write more and more material. “They were interesting songs with melodies played on flute,” says Barseghyan. “Interesting good, or interesting bad?” I ask. “Interesting awful,” Barseghyan responds, laughing. “We were shit.”

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PanArmenian.net reports that the final verdict on the 12 May parliamentary election has been made at the opening of the summer session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg. As has been noted on this blog and by many other observers, the election did represent some improvement over past elections although significant problems still remain. The opposition also failed to offer an alternative.

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ In general, parliamentarian election in Armenia met the commitments taken by the country in front of the Council of Europe, Leo Platvoet, the head of PACE mission on observing parliamentarian elections of Armenia stated, speaking in the opening of PACE’s summer session in Strasbourg.

“The May 12 parliamentarian elections in Armenia were held mostly in accordance with the commitments taken in front of the CoE and democratic standards. However, shortcomings still remain. Armenian authorities, as well as other participants of the electoral processes displayed political will for improving the process of organizing elections, though some problems remain yet,” Platvoet stressed.

According to the rapporteur, shortcomings and inaccuracies some of which are rather serious, were fixed in the vote counting process, which casts shadow on the preliminary positive evaluation.

“After gaining independence not a single election was held in compliance with democratic standards in Armenia. “The May 12, 2007 parliamentarian elections became a “try cock”, which demonstrated Armenia’s political wish to organize true democratic elections. Unfortunately, it seems that the greater part of opposition parties lost the support of people and weakened its positions after deciding to boycott the constitutional referendum in 2005,” the report underlines.

[…]

A1 Plus Anniversary Protest Rally, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2004

EurasiaNet has an interesting article on the recent report published by Freedom House which concludes that a “reconsolidated authoritarian model” is being implemented by Russia and former Soviet republics especially when it comes to the media. The report also says that there are concerns that bloggers might next be targeted. Thankfully, I can’t say that I feel as though Armenia is one of those countries where the situation is as repressive as other CIS states. However, there are some similarities in terms of overall trends.

The report — titled Muzzling the Media: The Return of Censorship in the CIS — makes the assertion that most former Soviet states, including those in Central Asia and the Caucasus, are the most hazardous on earth, outside of active war zones, for journalists to work in. Entrenched authority in these states are increasingly unwilling to tolerate the “watchdog” role that media strives to play in open societies, according to the report.

[…]

At least for the foreseeable future, any hope that a free press would develop in what was once the totalitarian former Soviet space has dissipated, the report suggests. It adds that methods of media control in the CIS have become more sophisticated since the 1991 Soviet collapse. “Gone is all encompassing ideological state media control,” the report says. “This contemporary form of censorship is achieved through a mix of state-enabled oligarchic control, broadcast monopolies of presidential ‘families,’ judicial persecution and subtle and overt forms of intimidation.”

[…]

Four major trends have emerged over the last three-plus years in the region, each of them designed to thwart democratization. The first is “intensified” state control over television, which is the primary way most residents in the CIS receive information. Authorities have also reworked legislative frameworks to “impede independent reporting.” In addition, CIS governments have taken action to prevent international broadcasters, including the British Broadcasting Corp. and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, from broadcasting via local radio stations in the regions. Finally, officials are now starting to scrutinize print media, which to date has offered perhaps the widest outlet for the dissemination opposition ideas in many countries.

Despite broad efforts by authorities in the region to squash scrutiny of their actions, independent journalism has survived due largely to the existence of the Internet, the Freedom House report says. “Bloggers and other new media practitioners continue to push the boundaries of 21st century journalism,” the report says. “But while the Internet remains free in Russia and a number of other post-Soviet countries, it is fast becoming a target of greater interest for new regulatory intervention.”

“While the Internet holds further promise and connectivity is growing at an impressive rate,” the report adds, “it remains a medium through which only a small fraction of news is obtained. As Internet use grows, it will become critically important to safeguard its integrity.”

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Fête de la Musique Rock Stage, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2007

I’ll be totally honest and admit that I had no idea what the Fête de la Musique was and certainly didn’t realize that it would be held in Yerevan as well as 400 other cities and towns worldwide. In fact, I had just been told that there would be a free rock concert outside of the Moscow Cinema on Thursday and I should probably go down and take a few photos. As it was, there were other different types of music being played elsewhere in central Yerevan, as detailed by Anoush Armenia.

In Yerevan, the philharmonic orchestra played a free concert, children’s singing groups performed by Komitas’ statue, but later in the evening it was lovely Abovian street whose scene was not to be missed. Reggae-band Reincarnation brought smiles to everyone crowded around Square One, The Beautified Project and of course Bambir brought their unstopable energy out to Charles Aznavour square…and the Fête ended with a finale of a remarkable new jazz band The Zoo playing at the French Terrace (how apropos), under cafe umbrellas while the warm summer rain started to drizzle in, with the smell of wine and strawberry hookah floating in the air…

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SOS Kinderdorf Children’s Village, Kotayk, Kotayk Region, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2007

In February last year, as part of my ongoing work on children in institutions or deprived of appropriate parental care, I wrote an article and produced a photo story on the work of SOS Kinderdorf in Armenia. The article was just one of many that have dealt with the issue of poverty and abandonment in both Georgia and Armenia.

[…] SOS Kinderdorf has into the largest organization dealing with orphans and children deprived of parental care in the world. The Hermann Gmeiner Foundation, as well as individual donors, funds the organization’s activities. There are currently over 60,000 children living in 450 villages operating in 132 countries. An additional 500,000 children receive support through kindergartens, schools and youth centers.

[…]

Regardless of it’s size and success, however, what makes SOS Kinderdorf different from other organizations dealing with children deprived of parental care is in its approach. Although many Diasporan-based organizations have sought to support institutions for abandoned children, a new government policy aimed at removing children from residential care in Armenia instead seeks to promote alternatives.

“The main thing that makes us different from State orphanages is that we provide long term family-based care,” says Ashot Kocharyan, National Director for SOS Children‘s Villages in Armenia. “When I say long-term, I mean in terms of our commitment to the care and upbringing of our children. We don’t stop when they reach the age of 18, but continue up until the age of 22 and sometimes 24.”

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After EurasiaNet put together my photos with audio commentary for the 12 May parliamentary election , I’ve started to look at doing the same for new work. Actually, I’ve always put together my work in formats such as Macromedia Flash, but used text instead of audio to set the background. Anwyay, here’s a first attempt to change that. It’s on social work and de-institutionalization in Georgia for the Newport Kutaisi Association.

[…] poverty levels remain high with some families having no choice but to place their children into State-run Children’s Homes and Boarding Schools. Commonly referred to as orphanages, 85-90 percent of 5,400 children enrolled into such institutions actually have parents. Of concern are recent reports from the international Children’s Charity, EveryChild, which warn that institutional care can seriously hinder a child’s development.

As a result, the London-based organization, which also has an office in Tbilisi, is now working with the Georgian government, and in particular its Ministry of Education and Science, to reintegrate such children back into their biological families or to place them in foster care. According to EveryChild, over 500 children have already been removed from institutions, including one hundred who have been reunited with their biological families.

Other organizations are also working to assist children from institutions in finding employment when they become adults through vocational training programs. Centers for the rehabilitation of children with disabilities, another group at risk of being institutionalized, are also being opened in urban centers, including the second largest city of Kutaisi.

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