On June 9, 2022, "Mining Code: President to Sign Controversial Bill?" discussion was held at "Media Center". The speakers of the discussion were Victoria Burnazyan, Vice President of "EcoLur" Informational NGO, and Oleg Durgaryan, President of "Center for Community Consolidation and Support" NGO.
Victoria Burnazyan emphasized that it is very possible that the government and the ministries will organize discussions with the general public when making decisions on the rights of the residents, before bringing such bills to the Government and the National Assembly. "Make decisions based on consensus, be constructive. However, we see that a bill has been introduced, which is not in the interests of the population. We must realize that the assertion that the population could raise their voice at the stage of public hearings to get the answers to their questions is completely different from the situation created after obtaining a soil management permit.
Another important issue is the provision of the bill that the project will not undergo new EIA expert assessment. If the company has not worked for 4 years, the area has undergone some changes, maybe there are climate changes. How can we continue our activities without implementing an EIA," she said.
Oleg Durgaryan also referred to the clarification of the term civil disobedience by TAI. "The only amendment is that what is meant by civil disobedience has been clarified. In fact, it is worse, more terrible than before it opens, it expresses what the civil society is worried about. The idea is the following: civil disobedience is the peaceful actions by which the citizens of the Republic of Armenia express their protest against this or that policy or program of the state. That is exactly what the civil society was saying.
"The state policy can be both the soil management permit and legislative amendment, the concept is very broad, so anything can be considered as disobedience against any program of the state," he outlined.
June 10, 2022 at 11:07