We urge the RA Police to withdraw from circulation the drafts on reducing the validity of RA citizen’s passports: CSO Anti-Corruption Coalition of Armenia
The “Draft decision on Making Amendments to the Decision No. 974 of the Government of the Republic of Armenia of 23 June, 2011” authored by the RA Police (hereinafter referred to as Draft 1) and the “Draft decision of the Government of the Republic of Armenia “On Making Amendments to the Decision No. 821 of the Government of the Republic of Armenia of 1998” (hereinafter referred to as “Draft 2”) were published in the Unified website for publication of legal acts’ drafts e-draft.
It should be noted that Draft 1 refers to the “Decision of the Government of the Republic of Armenia on the issuance, exchange and extending the validity of a passport of the RA citizen in a foreign country, in the bodies of the RA Diplomatic Service” and making changes and additions to the RA Government Decision No. 821 of 25 December, 1998”, and Draft 2 refers to the decision on Approving the Charter of the RA Passport System and the Description of the Passport of a Citizen of Republic of Armenia
Draft 1 envisages the following changes:
Replacing “10” with “2” in point 22.2 of the procedure approved by the appendix of decision.
Draft 2 envisages the following changes:
1) Rewrite paragraph 6 of point 1 of the Charter approved by the decision as follows:
“The passport of the citizens of the Republic of Armenia is issued for a period of 2 years. At the same time, male citizens of pre-conscription age who have reached 16 years of age shall be issued a passport before reaching the age of conscription, and in case of reaching the conscription age, with the period of deferment or re-examination received from compulsory military service.”
2) Recognize the 1st paragraph of the 3rd point of the Charter approved by the decision as invalid.
3) Replace the number “10” with the number “2” in the Point 4 of the Charter approved by the decision;
4) Remove the words “under the Government of the Republic of Armenia” from the entire text of the Charter approved by the decision and from the text of the decision.
The current regulation of the change defined in Draft 2 is as follows:
Passports are issued to citizens under 6 years of age with a validity period of 3 years; to citizens aged 6 to 16 years with a validity period of 5 years, but not more than 18 years; and citizens over 16 years of age with a validity period of 10 years. At the same time, male citizens of pre-conscription age up to 16 years old, as well as 16 years old, are issued a passport before reaching the conscription age, and in case of conscription age, with a deferment period received from compulsory military service.
The Governing Board of the CSO Anti-Corruption Coalition of Armenia, after examining the draft and its justifications, finds the proposed changes problematic and risky, contradict the RA Constitution, the international obligations of the RA, and the justifications do not reflect the necessity and expediency of these changes.
In particular, the changes will actually jeopardize the right of free movement of the RA citizens, including the right to leave the RA and enter the RA.
Moreover, according to Article 40 of the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia, the right to freedom of movement may be restricted in case of certain exceptions, for the purpose of state security, preventing or disclosing crimes, protecting public order, health and morals or the basic rights and freedoms of others. None of these exceptional cases exist in this situation, at least the justifications of the draft and the proposed changes do not prove it.
Տhe passport – the identity document of the citizen of the Republic of Armenia and citizenship of the Republic of Armenia which is provided for departure from the Republic of Armenia and entry into the Republic of Armenia, and also use in the territory of the Republic of Armenia (Article 3, Part 1, Point 1 of the RA Law about the passport of the Citizen of the Republic of Armenia).
In fact, combining the concept of a passport and the restriction of the right to free movement, the process of establishing/recognizing the identity of the RA citizen is endangered, especially when the latter is in a foreign country. Moreover, this will put an additional financial burden on the citizens to renew their passports once every two years, as a result of which the relevant subdivisions of the Passport and Visa Department of the RA Police will be even more burdened.
Another burden for citizens and international organizations is the transfer of existing long-term visas in the passport (for example, 3 years, 10 years) to a new passport.
One of the negative aspects of the draft is the financial burden in the form of state fees for passport renewal every two years. In many cases, it will be necessary to obtain passports in a short period of time, for which the citizen has to pay additional, larger sums, and actually, with this draft, the citizen is forced to perform this process once every two years.
The additional explanation provided by the police that the reduction of the validity period refers only to the so-called “blue passports” and not to the biometric ones, also speaks about the fact that these drafts impose an additional financial burden on the citizen, given the fact of significant difference between the state fee for obtaining the blue and biometric passports
In March 2021, the European Union-Armenia Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement (CEPA) entered into force, Article 15 of which envisages the full implementation of the Agreement between the European Union and the Republic of Armenia on the facilitation of the issuance of visas. The Agreement between the European Union and the Republic of Armenia on the facilitation of the issuance of visas (Visa Facilitation Agreement) was signed on 17 December, 2012 and entered into force on 1 January, 2014. It turns out that on the one hand, the Republic of Armenia acquires the obligation of visa facilitation, and on the other hand, it creates artificial obstacles for the full fulfillment of that obligation.
Thus, we find that the drafts violate the right of the RA citizen to free movement, they are an unnecessary administration, and add an additional financial burden for the citizens.
The great public dissatisfaction with the draft is evidenced by the number of votes “for” and “against” in the e-draft website, which at the moment of this announcement have the following image:
Draft 1
| The “Draft decision on Making Amendments to the Decision No. 974 of the Government of the Republic of Armenia of 23 June, 2011”
|
5% | 3 – for |
| “RA Law about the passport of the Citizen of the Republic of Armenia” #RA Police #extending the validity of a passport of the RA citizen, #in a foreign country | 95% | 58 – against |
Draft 2
| “Making changes and additions to the RA Government Decision No. 821 of 25 December, 1998”
|
1% | 6 – for |
| “On Making changes in the RA Government Decision No. 821 of 25 December, 1998”, # Set the validity period of the passport to 2 years #RA Police, # the citizen’s passport | 99% | 606 – against |
Based on the above, we urge the RA Police to withdraw from circulation the drafts on the reduction of the validity period of RA citizen passports.
Governing Board of the CSO Anti-Corruption Coalition of Armenia
29 October, 2021