Eurasia Partnership Foundation Freedom of Expression Project

Since December 15, 2009 Eurasia Partnership Foundation (EPF), with the support of the British Embassy in Armenia and USAID, has been implementing a project entitled “Institutionalizing Freedom of Expression in Armenia.”

One of the first steps of the project was to organize an extensive consultation dedicated to freedom of expression issues in Tzaghkadzor, January 30 – February 1, 2009. The aim of this consultation was to advance the discussion on freedom of expression and to find out how people of different social strata interpret this issue.

The event’s 70 participants included representatives of Armenia’s mass media, NGOs, youth groups and research centers, as well as sociologists and ethnologists. High-level Armenian government officials also participated in different parts of the discussion. The participants of the consultation pointed out the obstacles which must be overcome in order to ensure freedom of expression in Armenia. They also discussed the resources which are necessary to overcome those obstacles, and made suggestions accordingly.

As a follow-on to the consultation, a smaller working group met in March and April to further develop the suggestions for the public and government which were made at the consultation. In May, those suggestions were compiled in a work plan, which will soon be presented to the public. More information about the consultation can be found on the EPF website, www.epfound.am.

As part of the project, EPF will also release a series of documentary films about issues related to freedom of expression. A professional jury chose six out of 29 proposed documentaries for production: Ara Shirinyan’s “Double Reality,” Tigran Khzmalyan’s “A1 plus and minus”, Suren Ter-Grigoryan’s “Penetration”, Sousanna Ohanjanyan’s “Freedom of Expression and National Security”, Davit Matevosyan’s “Rock Artist, Citizen, Global Citizen?”, and Armen Yepremyan’s “‘SOS’ Save our Souls”. These films will be ready in June and will be shown during a TV discussion series devoted to this issue, along with three foreign films dedicated to different aspects of freedom of expression and the results of expanded qualitative research, conducted by EPF to understand the phenomena of Freedom of Expression in Armenia today.
The goal of airing these films and TV programs is to generate extensive discussion in different strata of society. A complete package with all the materials produced as part of the Freedom of Expression project will be created at the conclusion of the project and shared with universities for education purposes.

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