European partnership for democracy, EPD

First exploratory trip to Armenia

Between August 31^st and September 5^th the EPD organized its first exploratory trip to Armenia, the first pilot project country in the post-soviet region. The EPD delegation comprised Sari Varpama - a member of the Board of Directors of the EPD and director of DEMO Finland, Kristina Prunerova - the EPD Programme Manager, and Blanka Hancilova - an expert on Armenia. The objectives of this trip were:  to study the state of democracy in Armenia, to assess the democracy assistance projects of various governmental and non-governmental bodies with the main focus on the European players, and to look for a niche for work of EPD in all of its three instruments: as a knowledge hub, advocacy function and flexible funding facility.

The trip was undertaken during quite a difficult period for Armenian political life. In spring 2008 after the presidential elections a wave of demonstrations challenged the results of these elections and in violent clashes between demonstrators and the police 10 people were killed. Following these events several dozens of opposition leaders were imprisoned and 75 of them still remain in prison with dubious or no charges. Armenian society became very polarized, demonstrations were going on throughout the whole spring and summer and in September there were expectations of maybe more violence or significant changes on the political scene. The crisis in Georgia took away all the international attention and at the same time raised questions about what could happen in Nagorno Karabakh, the frozen conflict area between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Meetings of the EPD delegation were organized with a wide range of actors in order to prepare a good picture of the situation and find the niche of the EPD. Meetings with foreign embassies in Yerevan focused on assessment of the current political situation after the presidential elections and the general democratic development in the country. Representatives of international donors present in Armenia were asked to assess the needs in the field of democracy assistance, what lessons have been learned and what they would recommend to a new-coming donor such as EPD.

The delegation also met with representatives of political parties, of civil society organizations and independent press. These meetings clearly showed that the Armenian society is polarized after the elections and any dialogue is very difficult. Some of the main problems voiced by Armenians and foreign representatives were the lack of political will to make real democratic changes and for constructive dialogue, insufficient capacity of both the government and civil society to implement these changes, and insufficient political and citizenship culture and tolerance.

The EPD delegation has suggested the following areas as the niche for EPD funding and also advocacy activities:

1. Work towards strengthening the capacities of carefully identified Armenian CSOs, especially in the area of policymaking and advocacy. Capacity building could take place for example through networking of Armenian human rights groups with European NGOs. The EPD could serve as an information hub facilitating information about resources for Armenian civil society (funding but not only). Further, it is necessary to make better use of the transition know-how amassed by the new EU member states because this specific experience is much closer to the Armenian needs than most of North American and Western European experience.

2. Work towards opening up the space for communication with the Armenian government by engaging more international actors on both governmental and non-governmental levels. This two-pronged approach would be complementary in that by learning policymaking and advocacy, the organizations would come into contact with the political system. With international partners and support on the project the political parties/the government would be more inclined to cooperate as well. The task is challenging, and careful consideration should be given to potential partners and tactics.

Armenian initiatives should be supported by EPD's good access to European and EU national decision makers by advocating with them for an informed and principled stance on Armenia, one which appreciates progress but does not condone human rights violations. The main goals of this advocacy would be to "show the reality in Armenia" as it is, and not as the West wants to see it. In other words, to point out to serious shortcomings of Armenian democratic developments and problematize the ‘Western' approach of tolerating even gross violations of human rights.

As a follow up to this assessment the EPD is planning a second trip to Armenia in the beginning of December, which would be aimed at meeting with prospective partners and planning of concrete projects.

(pictures taken in 2006, copyright EPD)