The Positive Improvement of Armenia’s Corruption Perception Index is a Collective Achievement: CSO Anti-Corruption Coalition of Armenia

Statement of the CSO Anti-Corruption Coalition of Armenia about the result Armenia has recorded in the corruption perception index:

The Corruption Perception Index 2023 was published on 30 January, 2024, where Armenia has improved its index by 1 point in 2023 and recorded some progress in the fight against corruption, scoring 47 out of 100 possible points, and ranking the 62nd among 180 countries.

For comparison, let’s note that in 2022, Armenia received 46 points, ranking the 63rd place among 180 countries, and in 2021 – 49 points, occupying the 58th place among 180 countries.

If we look at neighboring countries, Georgia continues to be in a higher position than Armenia, although in 2023 it worsened its position by 3 points, ranking the 49th with 53 points. Turkey has also lost 2 points and is the 115th with 34 points, Iran has lost 1 point and is the 149th with 24 points, and Azerbaijan has not changed in the ranking and is the 154th with 23 points.

Among the countries with high anti-corruption index, Denmark is the first with 90 points, and Finland is the second with 87 points. At the bottom are South Sudan, Syria and Venezuela, each with 13 points tied for 177th place, as well as Somalia, which is in 180th place with 11 points.

Also, let’s remind that the Corruption Perceptions Index ranks 180 states and territories on a scale of 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean), based on the assessments of the corruption perception level by experts and businessmen.

The Coalition expresses its concern about the fact that systemic corruption in Armenia has not yet been overcome, which is why it is not actually manageable due to several main circumstances.

• The bodies of the anti-corruption institutional system in Armenia continue to operate without real independence, and their management is carried out by persons appointed as a result of political agreements and nepotism rather than as a result of open and transparent, equal opportunity competitions, and as a result staffing of the bodies of the anti-corruption institutional system with professional, carrying integrity values and competitive staff is actually failing.
• The political authorities do not always take into account the opinions and recommendations of specialized civil society organizations in the fight against corruption.
• The non-transparent, non-accountable and non-competitive way of allocating grants to civil society organizations still exists, and in recent years, this workstyle has penetrated into the practice of some international and foreign development partners operating in Armenia, which provide large grants in the anti-corruption sector to CSOs that are selected through a non-competitive closed procedure, which in turn poses serious risks for the development of CSOs operating in the anti-corruption field.
• Evaluation of the real impact of grants provided to civil society organizations in the field of anti-corruption by international development partners is not performed as such, and the targeted use of these funds and its tangible impact in all cases where the beneficiary of these programs is the Armenian society and the government are reasonably threatened.

At the same time, the Governing Board of the CSO Anti-Corruption Coalition of Armenia welcomes the positive improvement of corruption perception index of Armenia, considering it a collective achievement, a good example of state-civil society-private sector cooperation that has gained a new quality since February 2023 as a result unified approach in the fight against corruption.

The Coalition believes that the efforts and initiatives implemented by the Coalition were also significant in registering such a result. The Coalition has assisted the state by highlighting the problems in various fields, providing expert support, organizing public discussions, presenting evidence-based recommendation, including those regarding the development of the RA Anti-Corruption Strategy and the Resulting Action Plan for 2023-2026.

The Governing Board of the Coalition also welcomes the continuous and consistent efforts of the RA Government staff and the Ministry of Justice to purposefully cooperate with civil society specialized in the fight against corruption.

The Coalition welcomes and emphasizes the willingness of the Corruption Prevention Commission, the Anti-Corruption Committee, and the Anti-Corruption Chamber of the Court of Cassation to cooperate with the specialized civil society and at the same time expresses concern about the selective cooperation of the RA General Prosecutor’s Office with specialized civil society organizations in the anti-corruption field.

Thus, the Governing Board of the CSO Anti-Corruption Coalition of Armenia expresses its willingness to continuous professional support to the bodies of the anti-corruption institutional system in the fight against corruption and reaffirms its previously expressed position that in order to carry out an effective fight against corruption, it is necessary to strengthen the cooperation of the state and civil society, to have an independent anti-corruption institutional system with all its nodes, which should be managed by individuals who have been elected/appointed based on the results of really apolitical, open and transparent competitions, and whose daily work should include active, sincere and constructive cooperation with the public-at-large and its specialized structures, as well as the uninterrupted implementation of their professional functions that are free from political influence and are aimed at anti-corruption education, prevention of corruption in the public and private sectors and the implementation of accountability measures.

Governing Board of the CSO Anti-Corruption Coalition of Armenia

Note: The CSO Anti-Corruption Coalition of Armenia is a professional civil society structure, which was founded on 28 November 2014 in Yerevan. The Coalition currently has 50 civil society organizations, and the Secretariat is run by the Armenian Lawyers’ Association.