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Coalition Member in the Spotlight: “Center for Economic Rights” NGO 

2023-02-15 14:19

The CSO Anti-Corruption Coalition of Armenia in cooperation with Iravaban.net, will present the the Coalition member organizations within the framework of the “Coalition member in the spotlight” series.

We present to your attention information about the “Center for Economic Rights” NGO, member organization of the CSO Anti-Corruption Coalition of Armenia. President of the Organization Mr. Movses Aristakesyan, is currently the Chairman of the Governing Board of the CSO Anti-Corruption Coalition of Armenia.

The “Center for Economic Rights” NGO was established on 8 December,1997and was registered on 27 February, 1998 in accordance with the current legislation.

The organization’s goals are: 

  1. to support the construction of a democratic, legal, and social state,
  2. to contribute to the realization of universal human rights and freedoms in the country,
  3. to support the establishment and strengthening of civilized economic relations,
  4. to contribute to the formation and rooting of a normal competitive environment in the economy,
  5. to contribute to the adjustment of the limits of state intervention in economic life,
  6. to promote development of business,
  7. to support the protection of legal, civil, economic, administrative, health and social rights of any business entity and citizen,,
  8. to contribute to raising the level of legal awareness of RA citizens.

The NGO is a member of the following coalitions:

  • Member of the Governing Board of the CSO Anti-Corruption Coalition of Armenia; member of the Governing Board of the CSO Anti-Corruption Coalition of Armenia; chairman of the “Temporary Commission on Transitional Justice” of the the CSO Anti-Corruption Coalition of Armenia.
  • Member of the “Coalition for the Protection of Human Rights”,
  • Member of the “Coalition of Civil Society Organizations in the Field of Development and Improvement of the Tax Policy”,
  • Member of the “Coalition for the Protection of Workers’ Rights” established within the framework of the “Monitoring of Workers’ Rights” project,
  • Member of the “Coalition of Civil Society Organizations for the Development of Institutionalization of Social Advertising in Armenia”,
  • Member of the Expanded Public Council of Revenue Policy Improvement at the RA Ministry of Finance,
  • Member of the Public Council for Reforms of Income Administration of the RA CA SRC,
  • Member of “Armenian Public Health Union ” NGO.

In 2014, the organization joined the Eastern Partnership (EaP) Civil Society Forum (CSF) Armenian National Platform (NAP) and was actively involved in its activities. Since the day of membership, the organization has been included in the NAP 2nd working group of the “Economic integration and rapprochement with European Union Policy”. At the NAP Conference on 19 February, 2020, was elected a delegate of EaP CSF for 2020-2021. By the decision of the CSF Secretariat the authority of the organization was extended for one more year, until 2022.

The Head of the Organization was included in the 2nd Working Group “Economic Integration & Convergence with EU Policies” of the EaP CSF. He actively participated in the activities of the 12th CSF conference, presenting many proposals and programs for cooperation on the EaP Platform.

In May, 2022 the organization withdrew from the membership of the EAF CSF HAP due to electoral fraud allowed during the elections of its coordinator.

On 9 December, 2022,  at the meeting of the  Governing Board of the CSO Anti-Corruption Coalition of Armenia in  a new composition, Movses Aristakesyan was elected to the position of the Chairman  the Governing Board of the CSO Anti-Corruption Coalition of Armenia, for the period from 9 December, 2022 to 8 June, 2023 (for a period of 6 months).

In the past period, members of “Center for Economic Rights” NGO actively participated in the events organized by the Coalition. The president of the NGO, as a member of the Governing Board of the Coalition, participated in all meetings of the Governing Board of the Coalition, and dutifully implemented its decisions. He presented issues on the agenda of the Governing Board of the Coalition,and prepared their discussion.

By the decision of the Governing Board of the CSO Anti-Corruption Coalition of Armenia, Movses Aristakesyan was elected head of the “Commission for Transitional Justice in Armenia”. Within that framework, he developed the regulations of the Commission’s and its composition, which were approved by the decision of the Governing Board of the Coalition. He developed the principles of the composition of the Commission, the work program and the drafts of the decision of the Governing Board on the consolidation of fact-finding materials, which were approved by the latter.

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The “Center for Economic Rights” NGO actively participated in the following activities carried out by the Coalition.

– participated in the activities of the working group formed by the RA SRC for the aimed at reforming the reporting of public organizations and foundations,

– participated in the public discussions of the anti-corruption commission, fact-finding group, and other srafts and submitted opinions on them to the Coalition Secretariat in order to form an appropriate opinion and disseminate statements,

– prepared the drafts of the following statements published by the Coalition.

  1. “Statment on Public Discussion on Application of International Experience of Forming and Operating a Fact-Finding Committee and Possible Conceptual Approaches, 10, January, 2020.
  2. Expert Opinion and Recommendations on the RA Draft Law on Anti-Corruption Committee 14 February, 2020.
  3. Regarding the “Public Opinion Survey on Corruption in Armenia”, 19, March 2020.
  4. Proposals on the Draft Law of the Republic of Armenia on the Fact-Finding Commission, 11 June, 2020.

– participated in public discussions of draft anti-corruption policy strategies of the Republic of Armenia and presented relevant recommendations,

– participated in the public discussion of the Draft Law “On the Anti-Corruption Committee” and at the workshop summarizing the results of the public monitoring of the activities carried out in 2019 under the Anti-corruption Strategy and its Implementation Action Plan for 2019-2022, delivered a speech and presented relevant recommendations, 12 February, 2019,

– participated in the activities of the Government-Civil Society International Expert Conference: “The RA Anti-Corruption Strategy under International Experience” held on 17-18 April, 2019, within the framework of the “Commitment to Constructive Dialogue” program funded by the European Union

– participated in the study of budget applications and sectoral discussions in state bodies in 7 departments of the RA carried out by the CSOs coalitions/networks operating within the framework of the “Commitment to Constructive Dialogue” project funded by the European Union in the framework of the budget process for 2019-2020 and submitted relevant observations and recommendations accordingly,

-participated in the framework of the “Commitment to Constructive Dialogue” project funded by the European Union, joined the following coalitions and carried out the works planned by their programs:

  1. “Coalition for the Protection of Human Rights”
  2. “Coalition of Civil Society Organizations for the Development of Institutionalization of Social Advertising in Armenia”.
  3. “Coalition of Civil Society Organizations in the Field of Development and Improvement of the Tax Policy”,
  4. “Coalition for the Protection of Workers’ Rights” established within the framework of the “Monitoring of Workers’ Rights” project.

– participated in the public discussions of the draft strategies of judicial and legal reforms of the Republic of Armenia and presented relevant recommendations,

– participated in the discussions of the EU-Armenia agreement held in the RA NA on 30 January, 2020, during which there were also important discussions about the role of CSOs in the fight against corruption,

– participated in the “Civil Society Strategizing Event” held by the Eurasia Partnership Foundation (EPF) on 24-26 August, 2018, during which he made many recommendations on improving public administration and developing Government-CSO cooperation in the final report prepared as a result of the discussions of the event (attached),

– President of the “Center for Economic Rights” NGO Aristakesyan successfully completed the CSO/CSO coalition internal capacity building online training module organized by the Constructive Dialogue Network of CSOs of Armenia and received the relevant certificate on 20 May, 2020.

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On 14 December, 2022, during the discussion of the Draft Amendments to the Tax Code at the initiative of the Standing Committee on Economic Affairs of the National Assembly, Movses Aristakesyan noted that the necessary and proper discussion about the introduced system did not take place.

He also asked a question to Deputy Minister of Finance Arman Poghosyan. “Has this package been discussed in professional structures such as the public council attached to the Minister of Finance, the tax council of the Ministry of Finance, the tax council of the State Revenue Committee?”