Freedom of Information Center of Armenia.

The main directions of the FOICA activities are:

 

In 2001-2011 the Center provided 6300 persons (citizens, media, NGOs, journalists and legal persons) with legal consultations and assistance on FOI issues. The FOICA helps civil society groups to appeal unjustified information refusals in courts, hence making positive court precedents in the FOI field in Armenia. In 2006-2011 the FOICA brought 32 court cases with 75% positive outcome against state and self-governing bodies for illegal refusals of information requests and has successfully restored the violated rights of people.

 

By organizing country-wide trainings for citizens and representatives of NGOs, mass media, political parties as well as state officials, the Center helps to improve their knowledge in the sphere of freedom of information. During 2003-2011 over 6250 people including 2500 officials received knowledge and skills on how to implement FOI legislation..

 

FOICA actively advertises the public’s right to know and the Armenian "FOI Law". It exposes cases of violation of access rights through broadcast and print media, as well as Internet. Dozens of TV talk shows and programs, investigative articles, conferences, FOI Annual Award Ceremonies were organized. Since 2001 the center has been publishing the “You have the right to know” Bulletin which is the only Armenian periodical specialized in freedom of information. Each issue of the Bulletin contains a “black-list”of those officials who have violated the access to information right of citizens, journalists, NGOs and juridical persons. The FOICA’s website www.foi.am is a professional resource for everyone to get knowledge and news on freedom of information, including local and international practice. As a substantial part of public campaign, since the adoption of the Armenian FOI law in 2003, each year on September 28 – the International Right to Know Day, the FOICA organizes the Golden Key FOI Annual Award Ceremony since 2003 to assess the openness and transparency of the government and to criticize closed and secret work style.

 Improvement of mechanisms for proactive publication of information by the central and local government bodies (2008-2011)

In 2008-2009 FOICA established mechanisms for log-in, tracking and addressing FOI requests in 5 regional central government bodies and 5 municipalities. In 2008- 2011 FOICA has placed 230 information billboards in the most crowded places of 50 targeted communities of Armenia to help local government administrations proactively publish information to be widely available for the community people.

E-Government Reforms (2009-2011)

The FOICA implements a number of activities aimed at establishing new electronic government mechanisms in the government system. In 2011 the Freedom of Information Center has fully modernized the official websites of the Armenian Ministry of Territorial Administration and the 10 regional administrations. The FOICA is also supporting the Government to effectively use “Mulberry” electronic documentation sharing system in the governance system. For this purpose a series of training sessions and working discussions were organized in 2009-2010. In addition to this, computers were provided to municipalities and regional administrations.

Monitoring (2003-2011)

The FOICA carries out a constant monitoring of the implementation practice of FOI legislation in the state agencies and local self-government bodies. Every year the Freedom of Information Center of Armenia sends over 1000 information requests to state agencies and local self-government bodies, which makes the Centre one of the organizations that most actively use the Armenian Law on Freedom of Information. During past 10 years the FOICA carried out a number of monitoring projects to find out the state of freedom of information in Armenia.

 

FOICA is a member of: