The Council of Europe’s anti-corruption body Group of States Against Corruption (GRECO) has published today a new report assessing the implementation by Armenia of its earlier recommendations on preventing corruption in respect of members of parliament, judges and prosecutors.
GRECO concludes that Armenia has implemented satisfactorily five of the eighteen recommendations. Of the remaining recommendations, twelve have been partly implemented and one has not been implemented.
With respect to members of parliament, GRECO notes that progress has been achieved regarding the transparency of the legislative process in Parliament and measures to implement standards on incompatibilities. Further efforts are required to establish a code of conduct for the members of parliament and to strengthen the mechanism for monitoring members’ compliance with ethical norms and standards.
As far as judges are concerned, GRECO welcomes the constitutional amendments that reformed the judicial self-governance with the establishment of the Supreme Judicial Council. Furthermore, the immunities of judges have been limited to so-called “functional immunities”. Some progress has been achieved as regards the procedures for recruitment, promotion, dismissal and transfer of judges in that the Supreme Judicial Council has been given the key role. That said, more is expected to be done in relation to dedicated training and counselling of judges and with respect to safeguards against the use of disciplinary proceedings to influence or retaliate against judges. Effective rules against undue interference still have to be put in place. Regarding prosecutors, GRECO welcomes the adoption of the Law on Prosecutor’s Office; important steps to enhance the recruitment procedures of prosecutors and to strengthen the ethics committee of prosecutors have been made. More measures are necessary to introduce dedicated mandatory training and confidential counselling.
GRECO notes that further significant progress is necessary in order to achieve an acceptable level of compliance with the recommendations within the next 18 months. GRECO invites the Head of delegation of Armenia to submit additional information regarding the implementation of the outstanding recommendations by 30 June 2019 at the latest.
