Epress.am News from Armenia
Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Thomas Hammarberg released his much-awaited report on Armenia yesterday. Recall, Hammarberg visited Armenia from Jan. 18–21, 2011, and held discussions on the situation of human rights in the country with national authorities, prominent political figures and representatives of civil society. His report, among many other issues, touched upon freedom of expression and freedom of the media.
In particular, Hammarberg welcomed amendments to Armenia’s legislation last year which decriminalized libel and insult:
“However, civil society actors have pointed out to the Commissioner that this was only a partial decriminalization as, for example, the application of the criminal provisions on “false crime reporting” (Section 333 of the Armenian Criminal Code) still leaves open the possibility of undue restrictions of freedom of expression. There are also concerns related to the introduction of amendments to the Armenian Civil Code which foresee high monetary fines for insult and defamation through civil suits, which can be imposed upon media outlets.
“NGOs have also referred to an increase in the number of lawsuits against Armenian media outlets for infringing upon a person’s honour, dignity and business reputation, as well as the high amounts of compensation ordered by courts in this context, which could jeopardize the very tenability of the media outlet concerned. Recent lawsuits and court cases against Haykakan Zhamanak and Zhamanak dailies have been cited as examples.”
Though Hammarberg was in favor of the decision to decriminalize defamation and libel; nevertheless, he noted that “unreasonably high fines in civil cases relating to media should be avoided. At the same time, the media community should be encouraged to promote and apply ethical and professional standards in journalism and to develop a system of effective self-regulation.”
The Commissioner also expressed concern on the attacks and pressure on media outlets and journalists which have occurred in the past two years. “According to civil society actors, the second half of 2010 has marked an improvement in this respect as no cases of violent attacks were registered.”
In his report, Hammarberg drew attention to the Nov. 2008 physical attack on Investigative Journalists NGO president and Hetq Online‘s chief editor Edik Baghdasaryan, as well as the Apr. 2009 attack on Armenia Today coordinator Argishti Kiviryan. “At least five further cases of assault and harassment of journalists took place during the 2009 Yerevan Municipal Elections.”
“The Commissioner recommends that the political leadership of the country send a clear message stating that violence and intimidation against journalists are unacceptable and will be duly punished. This is all the more crucial in the period surrounding elections. The effective investigation of incidences of violence against journalists is of key importance; to fail to do so can only encourage impunity for human rights violations,” he wrote.
Hammarberg also touched upon media pluralism, highlighting the situation with A1+ which has been deprived of a broadcasting license each time it has applied since 2002. With the transition from analogue to digital broadcasting, competitions were announced last year, in which A1+ again failed once more to obtain a broadcasting license. The outcome of the broadcasting licensing competitions were a reduction of licenses, which Hammarberg chided:
“The reduction of licenses to be granted to television [broadcasting] outlets runs counter to the States’ obligation under Article 10 ECHR to ensure that ‘the public has access through television and radio to … a range of opinion and comment, reflecting inter alia the diversity of political outlook within the country.’ The Commissioner, therefore, recommends that this point should be reconsidered.
“Moreover, to place all forms of broadcasting under a regime of licensing by the NCTR runs counter to a Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly Resolution, which provides that print media and Internet-based media should not be required to possess a State licence, other than a mere business or tax registration document.”
The Commissioner also expressed misgivings regarding the methodology applied by the National Commission on Television and Radio (NCTR) in the procedure of allocating broadcasting licenses:
“The manner in which the decisions were taken by the NCTR and the reasoning given for them leave some justified doubts about the fairness of the competition. The principle of media pluralism should be one of the key aims of any such procedure.”