FOI annual award ceremony
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Awards winners
Freedom of Information Center announced for the 16th time the recipients of the "Golden Key and Rusty Lock" awards on 28 September 2018 in Yerevan. The award ceremony was devoted to the International Right to Know Day.
Mr. Sargis Khandanyan - Deputy Chief of Prime Minister Staff welcomed the guests on this occasion stressing the importance of the initiative taken by FOICA and congratulated the award winners.
Mr. Artak Zeynalyan- Minister of Justice in his welcoming speech noted that Armenia is a progressive country with the Freedom of information Law through the efforts of non-governmental organizations, human rights activists, active citizens, as well as international organizations"
Representative of the European Journalism Club in Armenia, Liza Esseks welcomed the audience and expressed her great enthusiasm and support to Armenian citizens. She stressed that the Law on Freedom of Information of the Republic of Armenia is a good and progressive law.
The host of the event President of the Freedom of Information Centre of Armenia Shushan Doydoyan mentioned that Freedom of Information Center of Armenia formulates and establishes the publicity and transparency traditions in the governing system of Armenia through the "Golden Key and Rusty Lock" annual award ceremony. Golden key and Rusty lock have become means to criticize publicly
closed and secret activities, meanwhile appreciating the open and transparent work. "The new government formed after the revolution in Armenia has a number of challenges to overcome. First, the issue of personnel training is scarce. Most state officials do not know the requirements of law. The next is the issue of proactive publication of information. Many agencies do not fully understand the essence of this commitment. The seriousness of what we have to do, and for that we have decided to give her time not a couple of months, but one whole year to make systematic improvements in this area",- added Shushan Doydoyan.
As stated by FOICA's President Doydoyan, neither the most open office nor the most closed office will be announced this year, as the Government has yet to do much.
The following people and organizations were awarded with Golden Keys as a symbol of openness and transparency:
- The best official web site in terms of access to information was recognized www.e-request.am the official website of Unified portal for online portals, which is lunched and coordinated by the Ministry of Justice.
- The Special award was was awarded to Lilia Afrikyan, Leading Specialist of the Foreign Relations Department of the RA Prime Minister's Office, Secretary of the OGP Armenia Working Group for effective coordination and provision of government-civil society cooperation within the Open Government Partnership Initiative.
- Positive Award for an NGO that best used the right for access to information was presented to the "Human Rights Power" NGO.
- Award for the media for most actively using FOI Law was awarded to "ampop.am" online portal.
The winners of awards were decided by the independent jury represented by 6 organizations in the Freedom of Information sphere. The selection criteria for the most open and secret agencies can be found at http://www.foi.am/en/award-standards.
The Award Ceremony was organized by the Freedom of information Center of Armenia NGO by the OGP Support Unit and Tides Center financial assistance in the frames of "Promoting Open Government Partnership in Armenia" Project.