Introduction
CSO Meter Armenia 2024 report presented in Yerevan
On 28th November 2024, the Armenian NGO Transparency International Anti-Corruption Centre (TIAC) presented the CSO Meter 2024 report on the situation of civil society in Armenia during a public event. According to TIAC experts and partner organisations that contributed to the report, Armenia experienced both improvements and setbacks across the indicators included in the methodology. The experts warned that there are still risks, challenges and vulnerabilities that must be addressed to safeguard civil society and protect civic space. Indicators for freedom of expression, for example, improved during the reporting period, but freedom of peaceful assembly faced challenges to its fulfilment as a fundamental right. In 2024, several protests took place in Armenia over the government's strategy regarding the Nagorno-Karabakh region and negotiations with Azerbaijan. The CSO Meter report found instances of excessive force used by the authorities during these protests.
Freedom of Peaceful Assembly
Bus drivers strike in Yerevan
In early December 2024, dozens of bus drivers were dismissed by municipal authorities after organising a strike without prior notice. The drivers’ protest focused on demands for better working conditions and salaries that reflected the cost of living. They told reporters that, in addition to seeking pay raises, they were protesting against the lack of toilets at work, having to purchase their own uniforms, and being required to clean their buses themselves. The drivers noted that authorities had promised to address these issues in November.
The municipality's spokesman, Hayk Kostanyan, announced that the strike “will be assessed within the framework of labour legislation” and that the municipality will turn to the relevant authorities who will make an “appropriate criminal-legal assessment” of the drivers’ actions.
However, after the municipal authorities filed a criminal complaint, the Prosecutor General’s Office, declined to initiate criminal proceedings. OC Media reported that 32 drivers had been dismissed following the strike, of whom only 11 have since been reinstated.
Freedom of Expression
Yerevan Mayor announces lawsuit against media outlet
On 19th December 2024, the Armenian media outlet CivilNet reported that the Mayor of Yerevan, Tigran Avinian, had announced a lawsuit against the outlet. CivilNet journalists Mkrtich Karapetyan and Ani Grigoryan, in collaboration with the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, had conducted an investigation that uncovered alleged fraud linked to the mayor’s relatives. Following the investigation, the mayor responded with a lawsuit and publicly criticised the press, calling it “a large garbage dump.”