Development Blogs.com

A paper on the 'Development of Agriculture Information Services in Central Asia and the Caucasus' by Oleg Shatberashvili and Ajit Maru was planned for the recent IFLA congress in Quebec. Unfortunately, the authors could not be there to present it.The paper looks at the status of agricultural information services in five countries of Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan) and in the Caucasus (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia).The authors conclude that "there is the need to improve access of researchers to international and regional STI and participate in sharing and exchanging regional information internationally. It implies both traditional library networks and ICT-based services."There is also a "need to enable access to agricultural information to not...

Investigate Whether Mikael Danielian Was Targeted for His Human Rights Work As part of their investigation into yesterday’s assault of a leading human rights defender, the Armenian authorities should investigate the extent to which the victim’s human rights work was a motive for the attack, Human Rights Watch said today. Mikael Danielian, the Chairman of the Armenian Helsinki Association, was wounded by an air gun on May 21, 2008 in Yerevan, the country’s capital. Danielian was not seriously wounded....

Swift Action Needed in Post-election Crisis Following his inauguration on April 9, Armenia’s new president Serzh Sargsian should investigate last month’s violence and take other decisive steps to address the human rights crisis in the country, Human Rights Watch said today. Human Rights Watch urged Armenia’s international partners to help the country meet its international commitments and get it on track to democratic development....

Opposition Demonstrators Detained Under New Restrictions The Armenian government should lift new restrictions on freedom of assembly and cease detaining opposition supporters participating in peaceful protests, Human Rights Watch said today....

Authorities Should Swiftly Investigate Use of Lethal Force The Armenian government should launch a prompt and independent investigation into the use of lethal force by security forces to quell demonstrations and rioting overnight on March 1, 2008, Human Rights Watch said today. The violence occurred after a 20-day state of emergency was declared by President Robert Kocharian in response to an alleged threat to public order posed by opposition demonstrators....

State of Emergency Restricts Civil Liberties and Free Press Armenian police on March 1 used excessive force and violence to disperse demonstrators protesting peacefully against recent election results, Human Rights Watch said today. Following the crackdown on demonstrators, President Robert Kocharian decreed a state of emergency in Yerevan, the capital, until March 20, 2008. There was a heavy police presence overnight in central Yerevan....

Assailants Target Opposition Activists, Observers and Journalists The Armenian government should investigate alleged assaults on election observers and journalists that marred the presidential election on February 19, 2008, Human Rights Watch said today. According to victim testimonies taken by Human Rights Watch, assailants beat and threatened opposition party activists, domestic observers, and journalists who attempted to document election fraud at polling stations during the presidential vote....

A few weeks ago, when the House Foreign Affairs Committee was voting on the Armenian Genocide resolution, Carpetblogger, in a rare burst of civic participation, organized all the people we know who don't have their heads up their asses to write letters to their Member of Congress asking him or her to, at minimum, postpone the vote until, well, never. As a former political consultant, I know the influence genuine constituent letters can have on a congressional office but I always viewed writing my Representative as something people who are not me do. Now, I am more like a regular voter than I've ever been (I complain about the garbage and streetlights in my neighborhood like the best neighborhood activist whack job), so I visited the website of Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D, OR-01) and sent...

Strike Down Proposed Laws Curbing Media Freedoms The Armenian parliament should not adopt two draft laws that would effectively ban future broadcasts of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), a key source of independent information in that country, Human Rights Watch said today....

In the run-up to Armenia's May 12 parliamentary elections, there was some concern that the elections would be less than transparent. Some MCC watchers, including the office of Congressman Frank Wolf (R-VA), questioned whether the MCC should be prepared to restrict funds to Armenia should the elections prove substandard. The MCC's response to these concerns was that they were monitoring the situation and working with Armenia to support the election process. Though they never specifically threatened putting the compact on hold if the elections were found to be fraudulent, the MCC was probably pleased to hear that international monitors deemed Armenia's elections relatively free and fair and an improvement over previous ones since the verdict both marks progress for Armenia and relieves...

Agricultural information specialists from Armenia and Belarus recently participated in an expert consultation and training on agricultural information - FAO Depository libraries, AGROVOC and AGRIS. Hosted by FAO SEUR, they joined colleagues from Hungary and the Slovak Republic to share knowledge on the effective maintenance of FAO Depository Libraries and the establishment of AGRIS. Tags: agricultural information fao armenia belarus...

You will recall my earlier posting on the MCC's decision to approve a compact with Armenia despite what looked like a downward trend in "ruling justly" indicators. A response from Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian to the warnings issued by the MCC upon approval provided sufficient comfort for the MCC to proceed to signing and, one assumes, disbursing funds. Well, it wasn't hard for Armenia to meet the conditions set out in the MCC's letter -- they "acknowledged the issues" and "committed to address them." I'm not on the ground in Armenia, so what do I know? I sure would love to hear from someone closer to the action. My concern is that it does appear to be a downward trend in the "ruly justly" criteria, not just a one-time bump in the road. And what happens come next year...

On December 19th, the MCC Board approved a $235 million compact with Armenia. Seeing as how the government of Armenia didn't take very seriously the advice offered by the MCC in September or the concerns expressed by Freedom House and Open Democracy, the approval came with a stern warning from CEO Danilovich: “MCC is concerned about the government's lack of transparency and commitment to open and fair elections in the recent referendum. I have expressed those concerns to President Kocharyan and look forward to working with the government to protect Armenians' ability to participate fully in the electoral process. MCC was designed to reward and work with nations that take the hard steps necessary to create a policy framework to spur economic growth and reduce poverty. Consequently,...

Days before the MCC is supposed to sign its compact with Armenia, an article from Open Democracy, "Armenia's Emptying Democracy," flags major slippages in political rights, civil liberties and corruption -- all policy indicators measured by the MCC in determining country eligibility. And, recall that Freedom House flagged Armenia for the MCC in the FY 06 selection round as one of the weakest performers in political and civil rights. If you look at the data used by the MCC to track policy performance, there will inevitably be linkages between the events outlined in Open Democracy's article and future MCC indicator performance. Indeed, Armenia has already showed policy slippages in the MCC indicators since its original selection in 2004. The rubber meets the road here for the MCC. Is...