Path of Law

SIRANUSH SAHAKYAN’S REACTION TO THE UNPROVEN OPINION ON THE INITIATIVE TO CREATE A TEMPORARY COMMITTEE OF ETHICS

I would recommend anyone interested in the former activities of the Committee of Ethics  to review the impartial and professional reports of the best partner organizations of the Republic of Armenia, which address the activities of the committee, including the litigation processes, reported achievements and failures.

In particular, RA Report on the Results of the 4th phase of the OECD Istanbul Anti-Corruption Network Action Program (https://www.oecd.org/…/OECD-ACN-Armenia-4th-Round-Monitorin…), pages 38-41, 48-51, GRECO 4th Round Commitment Report (https://rm.coe.int/CoERMPublicCommonSea…/DisplayDCTMContent…) pages 19-21, 61-63.

At the same time, the 9th and 10th indicators of the EU project of “Assistance to the Reforms of the Public Sector in Armenia” relate to the Committee, which was evaluated as fully completed, and the financial support allocated to it is currently managed by the authorities. The response of the World Bank is similar to the latter, which classifies the RA Declaration System as one of the best in the world.

The Committee was further evaluated in the framework of the European Union / Council of Europe Program’s “Independence and Operational Effectiveness of Specialized Anti-Corruption Bodies”. The independence of the anti-corruption bodies was assessed on the basis of Gillard’s independence index, and operational efficiency by levels (ineffective, limited efficiency, average efficiency, most effective, high efficiency). According to the independence indicator, the Commission received 0.87 points out of 1, and its operational efficiency was rated as high one. This result is the highest of any other Armenian bodies and is compared with that of the Ukrainian National Anti-Corruption Bureau.

As for my work outside the Committee, the full biographical data is available in open sources and does not require any censorship or editorial reductions.

In conclusion, I usually treat unproven subjective opinions with forgiveness and compassion, as they are not capable of adversely affecting neither my work, nor even my mood.

P.S․ In connection with the “notorious” labeling, in the RA report on the OECD Istanbul Anti-Corruption Network Action Program considering the 10th recommendation for the Committee, the APOLITICAL and COMPETENT monitoring team has noted: «It took three years, strong leadership and continued efforts from the CEHRO to achieve this change. In the meantime, the CEHRO has been fairly active in applying its limited mandate in practice and promoting common standards for public sector integrity, sometimes even beyond its statutory functions. The CEHRO has produced a guidebook on filling in asset declaration forms, a handbook on ethics in public service and a number of studies on prevention of corruption, ethics, conflict of interest and asset declarations, as well as desk research on international practices on corruption related issues. The CEHRO has also elaborated its institutional development strategy and the action plan for 2016- 2018 aimed at further increasing its role in promoting public service integrity. In addition, it has played an instrumental role in developing progressive legal regulations on the CPC, asset declarations, conflict of interest enforcement and other issues, as a result of the successful cooperation with the Ministry of Justice of Armenia, other state bodies and civil society. The monitoring team would like to highlight the high level of professionalism and competences of the representatives the CEHRO met during the on-site visit and commend the dedicated work it has performed on promoting integrity in the challenging context of Armenia».