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Massis WeeklyVolume 40, No. 17 Saturday, MAY 09, 2020
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FM: Armenia Will Not Make UnilateralConcessions on Karabakh
YEREVAN -- The peaceful reso-lution of the NK conflict remains thetop priority of Armenia’s foreignpolicy, Foreign Minister ZohrabMnatsakanyan told lawmakers at ahearing on the government’s actionplan’s execution.
Mnatsakanyan said that Armeniahas clearly defined its approaches inthe resolution of the NK conflict, andthese approaches have been expressedat numerous occasions, including dur-ing the 2019 OSCE ministerial inBratislava.
According to him, Armenia willnot make unilateral concessions onKarabakh and has always said that thesolution to the problem is based on theprinciple of mutual concessions.
“No one can expect any stepsfrom Armenia, involving concessions,and that could harm our national secu-rity,” Mnatsakanyan said.
According to him, it is clear thatthe issue is being actively discussed inthe domestic political field, "domesticpolicy remains domestic policy, and
you cannot run away from it."According to the minister, the
security of the people of Karabakhhas been declared a priority by theArmenian side, and the primary taskof Armenia is to ensure existentialsecurity.
“There will be no repetition ofApril 2016, there will be no 1991-1994. For this we have enough deter-mination,” the Foreign Minister noted,adding that there is a national consen-sus on this issue, which only strength-ens the position of the Armenian side.
“With this goal Armenia continuedclosely cooperating with internationalmediators, the Minsk Group co-chairs,in the direction of the Artsakh conflict’speaceful resolution. A meeting betweenthe Armenian and Azerbaijani leadersand meetings at the foreign ministeriallevel have taken place. During the yearit was possible to achieve two agree-ments – in the direction of preparing thepopulations to peace and creating con-ditions conducive for peace,” FMMnatsakanyan said.
Armenia Reopens Economy As HealthMinister Warns of Surge in COVID-19 Cases
YEREVAN (RFE/RL) -- Arme-nian authorities reported the largestdaily number of coronavirus deaths todate on Monday as the vast majority ofArmenia’s businesses, including manycafes and restaurants, resumed theirwork following the end of a nation-wide lockdown imposed in late March.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyandefended on Sunday his government’sdecision to lift remaining restrictionson people’s movements and reopenvirtually all sectors of the Armenianeconomy despite the continuing spreadof coronavirus in the country. He de-clared that the onus is now not only onhis government but also on ordinary
Armenians to contain the virus.“We are announcing a new, de-
centralized phase of the fight againstthe novel coronavirus,” Pashinyan saidduring a meeting with Deputy PrimeMinister Tigran Avinian and HealthMinister Arsen Torosian.
“The main reason why we areopting for such a solution is that it’snow obvious that we will have newcoronavirus cases at least until Marchor April next year, until a vaccine isdeveloped,” he said. “Therefore, ourchallenge starting from tomorrow is todo everything … so that we can live
Armenia Sees the Largest Improvementin Democratic Performance
Freedom House’s annual reportfinds that Armenia registered the larg-est two-year Democracy Score im-provement in the report’s history, andthe score has reached its highest-everpoint for the country, with improve-ments related to elections and corrup-tion in the latest edition. Developmentsregarding the judiciary, however, haveraised concerns.
The document; “Nations in Tran-sit 2020,” analyzes 29 states. 10 ofthem are recognized as democratic, 10as hybrid and nine as authoritarian.Over the past decade, the number ofhybrid states has tripled, while thenumber of democracies has decreasedby a third.
The report notes that a growingnumber of leaders in Central and East-ern Europe have dropped even thepretense that they play by the rules ofdemocracy. They openly attack demo- Continued on page 4
cratic institutions and are working torestrict individual freedoms. These at-tacks have resulted in a dramatic demo-cratic breakdown across Central Eu-rope, the Balkans, and Eurasia, leadingto category declines for four countriesin the past two years.
“Many leaders in this region areno longer pretending to care aboutdemocracy or the rule of law,” saidMichael J. Abramowitz, president of
Pashinyan in Workers’ Day MessageUrges End to Unregistered Labor
YEREVAN — Prime MinisterNikol Pashinyan on Friday urged Ar-menians working off the books topress their employers to register theirjobs with tax authorities, saying thatthis is essential for protecting theirlabor rights.
In a May Day s ta tement ,Pashinyan also argued that his gov-ernment finds it difficult to helpunregistered workers hit hard by theeconomic shutdown resulting fromthe coronavirus pandemic.
“Our anti-crisis programs firstof all target those people and compa-nies that have complied with the LaborCode and the Tax Code of the Republicof Armenia,” he said. “We have therebynot only honored our working citizensbut also taken advantage of the factthat it is easier to identify registeredworkers if they lose their jobs and needassistance during the crisis.”
“Having a registered job is animportant guarantee for the protec-tion of worker’s rights, and I call onall employed citizens to demand thattheir employers register their jobsand support the government in pro-tecting their own labor rights,” addedPashinyan.
Many people have for decades
been involved in the informal sector ofArmenia’s sector. Employers had notregistered those workers in order toavoid paying their income and pensiontaxes.
Official statistics suggest that thenumber of such workers has fallensignificantly since Pashinyan came topower and pledged a tough crackdownon tax evasion two years ago. Accord-ing the State Revenue Committee(SRC), private entities have reportedmore than 87,000 new jobs to the taxservice from May 2018 through De-cember 2019. Most of these jobs arebelieved to have been created beforethat period.
The number of unregisteredworkers — and day laborers in par-ticular — apparently remains high asevidenced by public reactions to re-cent government decisions to com-pensate people who have temporarilyor permanently lost their jobs due tothe coronavirus lockdown. The gov-ernment has faced many complaintsabout compensating only officially reg-istered workers.
Heriknaz Tigranyan, a parliamentdeputy from the ruling My Step bloc,
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Unfortunately, once again thereis a need to mention and raise the issuethat in Armenia today, there are manyfatal issues related to workers' rights,which have escalated under the stateof emergency.
1. In Armenia, there are regis-tered trade unions but they do notfunction in a way that is expected ofthem. These trade unions are underan obligation to protect the human rights of the working people but theyfailed in their mission. It is imperative to create new trade unions, which mustbe separated from the state and have no financial dependence, thus ensuringthe independence of their activities.
2. The worker are in no way protected and are not aware of their rights.The employers do not sign proper employment contracts with their workers,as a result of which they are able to fire their employees at will.
3. The maximum work hours and schedules are not maintained accord-ing to the professions and there is no remuneration for the additional workhours in the overwhelming majority of the cases.
The youth of the Social Democrat Hunchakian Party are convinced thatthe country's social protection and workers' rights should be considered asa strategic priority and that these issues should be addressed immediately.The builder of the country is not the one who got rich at the expense ofsomeone else's work, but the one who is engaged in mental and physicalwork, keeping Armenia alive.
SDHP "Dkhruni" Student-Youth Union expresses its solidarity andsupport to all Armenian workers, and is willing to cooperate for the commoninterests of all of us, not only with workers but also with independent workingand public groups.
SDHP "Dkhrouni" Student-Youth Union'sStatement On The Occasion Of May 1
Only Strong and Independent ArtskahCan Ensure Peace and Security in
South Caucasus Region
STEPANAKERT — The ArtsakhRepublic foreign ministry has issued astatement on the 29th anniversary of‘Koltso’ Operation, that resulted indeportation of Armenian population ofthe villages bordering then autono-mous region of Nagorno-Karabakh:
“29 years ago, under the directorganization and coordination of thecentral authorities of the USSR andSoviet Azerbaijan, a large-scale op-eration ‘Koltso’ (‘Ring’) was carriedout to deport the Armenian populationof the borderline villages of Artsakh.This bloody operation ultimately trans-ferred the Azerbaijan-Karabakh con-flict to the military plane, initiating thesubsequent full-scale aggression ofAzerbaijan against the Republic ofArtsakh (NKR).
“On April 30, 1991, the massiveshelling of Getashen and Martunashenvillages of the Shahumyan regionlaunched the ‘Koltso’ operation , in thecourse of which tanks, combat heli-copters, and artillery were employedfor the first time against the civilians.Azerbaijani special police units(OMON), with the support of internaltroops of the USSR Ministry of Inter-nal Affairs and the Soviet Army, brokeinto Armenian villages formally sup-posedly for “checking the passportregime”, but in fact for killing, rob-bery, terror against the Armenian popu-lation, followed by deportation.
“As a result of military and policeactions, dozens of Armenian villagesin Northern Artsakh, as well as inShahumyan, Hadrut and Shushi dis-tricts were destroyed, nearly ten thou-sand people were deported, more than100 were killed, several hundred peoplewere taken hostage. The fate of manyof them remains unknown until now.
“It was another manifestation ofthe ethnic cleansing policy carried outby Azerbaijan in 1988-1991 in Sumgait,Baku and other settlements of theAzerbaijan SSR, as well as in the vil-lages of Northern Artsakh.
“The Armenian pogroms carriedout by the Azerbaijani authorities in re-sponse to the demand of the people ofArtsakh to exercise their inalienable rightto self-determination and the subsequentmilitary aggression against the Republicof Artsakh in 1991, which was repeatedin April 2016, demonstrated that only theestablishment and strengthening of anindependent statehood can ensure theright of the people of Artsakh to livefreely and safely in its homeland.
“The recognition by the interna-tional community of this reality and theinternational recognition of the Repub-lic of Artsakh will become an addi-tional deterrent against Azerbaijan’sdesire to start a new war. They willensure peace and security in the entireregion of the South Caucasus,” thestatement said.
Arrest Warrants Issued for Fugitive OligarchsAffiliated with Former Regime
YEREVAN -- A court in Yerevanapproved on Wednesday an arrestwarrant against Mikael Minasyan,former President Serzh Sarkisian’sfugitive son-in-law prosecuted on cor-ruption charges which he rejects aspolitically motivated.
Armenia’s State Revenue Com-mittee (SRC) brought the accusationsof illegal enrichment, false asset dis-closure and money laundering in Marchand revealed them one month later. Italso moved to arrest Minasyan late lastmonth.
Mikael Minasyan apparently leftArmenia shortly after he was dismissedas the country’s ambassador to theVatican in late 2018. He declined toreveal his current whereabouts in twovideo messages posted on Facebook inrecent days.
“I would suggest that MikaelMinasyan frequently release such vid-eos,” said Deputy Prime MinisterTigran Avinian. “I’m sure that we tooget some information from those vid-eos.”
Both are Accused of Illegal Enrichment, False AssetDisclosure and Money Laundering
Fugitive Oligarchs Mikael Minasyan & Gurgen KhachatrianAnother senior official, deputy
parliament speaker Alen Simonian, saidMinasyan thus effectively admitted hav-ing “liabilities towards the Republic ofArmenia.”
Minasyan, 42, enjoyed consider-able political and economic influencein the country when it was ruled by hisfather-in-law from 2008-2018. He isalso thought to have developed exten-sive business interests in various sec-tors of the Armenian economy.
Meanwhile, another court inYerevan allowed law-enforcement bod-ies on Sunday to arrest another wealthybusinessman and son of Armenia’sarrested former Finance Minister GagikKhachatryan. Gurgen Khachatrian wasnot immediately arrested and his where-abouts remained unknown as of Mon-day evening.
The Khachatryan family has ex-tensive business interests. The mostimportant of its assets is Ucom, one ofthe country’s three mobile phone op-
More than $8bn (£6.5bn) hasbeen pledged to help develop acoronavirus vaccine and fund researchinto the diagnosis and treatment of thedisease, the BBC reports.
Some 40 countries and donorstook part in an online summit hostedby the EU.
EU Commission President Ursulavon der Leyen said the money wouldhelp kickstart unprecedented globalco-operation.
She said it showed the true valueof unity and humanity, but warnedmuch more would be needed in thedays ahead.
In total, more than 30 countries,along with UN and philanthropic bod-ies and research institutes, made do-nations.
Donors also included pop singerMadonna, who pledged €1m ($1.1m),said Ms von der Leyen, who set out
the Brussels-led initiative on Friday.The European Commission
pledged $1bn to fund research on avaccine. Norway matched the Euro-pean Commission’s contribution, andFrance has pledged €500m, as haveSaudi Arabia and Germany. Japanpledged more than $800m.
The US and Russia did not takepart. China, where the virus originatedin December, was represented by itsambassador to the European Union.
Of the money raised, $4.4bn willgo on vaccine development, some $2bnon the search for a treatment and $1.6bnfor producing tests, the EU said.
The UN says a return to normallife will only be possible with a vac-cine.
Most experts think it could takeuntil mid-2021, about 12-18 monthsafter the new virus first emerged, for avaccine to become available
World Leaders Pledge Billions to HelpDevelop Coronavirus Vaccine
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Masks Donated to the City of Los Angeleson Behalf of Armenia
LOS ANGELES – Consul Gen-eral of Armenia in Los Angeles an-nounced the donation of 100,000 sur-gical masks to the City of Los Angeles.The donation will help alleviating theoutbreak of COVID-19 in Los Angelesand assisting the city authorities incombating the virus.
This important initiative comesfrom the well-known Armenian-Ameri-can philanthropist Jack Youredjian, theFounder and Executive Chairman ofWestern Drug. Previously, he and hiswife Zarig Youredjian implement suc-cessful projects in Gyumri – the sec-ond largest city in Armenia – helping theearthquake-stricken families with hous-ing as well as empowering many chil-dren through academic success, careerplanning and vocational training.
Through coordination of DeputyMayor of Los Angeles for InternationalAffairs Ambassador Nina Hachigian andConsul General of Armenia AmbassadorArmen Baibourtian, the masks were de-livered to relevant authorities in LosAngeles. The surgical masks were pro-vided to medical institutions and vulner-able groups in LA. This initiative high-lighted the evolving strong partnershipbetween the second largest city in theU.S. and Armenia, which was elevatedwith the visit Armenia’s Prime MinisterNikol Pashinyan to Los Angeles in Sep-tember 2019.
“The fight against COVID-19 hasmade the world smaller, and peopleacross the planet are joining together
to confront this deadly pandemic,”said Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti.“Armenia and Los Angeles share anunbreakable bond — and this generousgift will help protect vulnerable Ange-lenos and medical workers who areshowing incredible courage and ex-traordinary determination to save lives.”
Los Angeles is home to one of thelargest and most dynamic Armeniancommunities in the world. As an inte-gral part of the city, the Armenian-American community holds pride inbeing Angelinos and spares no effortsto contribute to its advancement. Incommemoration of the 105th anniver-sary of the Armenian Genocide in April2020, the Armenian-American com-munity of Los Angeles had launched ahumanitarian fundraiser “1.5 MillionMeals for 1.5 Million Lives” in theframework of “America We ThankYou” campaign in support of FeedingAmerica to honor Near East Relief andprovide meals to Americans in needduring difficult time. The Near EastFoundation was the United States’ firstcongressionally sanctioned non-govern-mental organization that was able to poolresources to save 132,000 Armenianorphans and establish over 400 refugeeprocessing centers, hospitals, vocationalschools, thus greatly contributing to thesurvival of the Armenian people. As aresponse to America We Thank you, theArmenian-American community acrossthe country donated more than 5 millionmeals.
YEREVAN (Armradio) -- Arme-nian engineers have developed a ther-mal scanner – an AI solution that canbe used for detecting elevated skintemperature in high-traffic publicplaces through quick multiple targetscreening.
The Scylla Thermal Scanner pro-vides AI-based analytics, which, com-bined with a state-of-the-art thermalcamera, enables continuous contactlessand non-invasive accurate tempera-ture monitoring.
It can be used for preliminaryscreening in border checkpoints, air-ports, educational and government in-stitutions, manufacturing warehouses,and hospitals.
“Such solutions are very expen-sive in the world, and the prices hit$20,000 amid growing demand due tothe coronavirus pandemic,” thecompany’s technical co-founder andchief data scientist Ara Ghazaryan saidin an interview with Public Radio ofArmenia.
Armenian Engineers Develop ThermalScanner in Response to Covid-19
Armenia and Its Symbol Ararat Featured inUS State Department’s Monthly Magazine
W ASH IN G -TON, DC -- The USState Department’smonthly magazinefeatures a beautifulphoto of Ararat, anice mention ofMasis as Armenia’snational symbol.
Author Lia Mi-ller describes Arme-nia is an ancientcountry with a richand fascinating his-tory.
“The country boasts some ofthe world’s oldest vineyards, vi-brant and delicious cuisine, legend-ary hospitality, a beautiful landscapewith world-class hiking, and inter-nationally recognized biodiversity.Consistently included as one of thetop travel destinations within popu-lar publications such as Forbes andCondé Nast Traveler, Armenia wasrecently featured on the NationalGeographic’s “The Cool List: Cel-ebrating the reasons to travel in2020,” due to its accessible routesfrom major travel hubs,” the articlereads.
Located in the middle of theSouth Caucasus region betweenTurkey, Iran, Azerbaijan, and Geor-gia, Armenia is truly situated at the
crossroads where east meets west,which makes for a dynamic, unique,and colorful culture, the magazinewrites.
“Mount Ararat—or Masis, asthe Armenians affectionately referto it—is Armenia’s national symboland is known for the majestic viewsit offers. The volcanic mountain nowlies in modern day Turkey making itdifficult to access for Armenians.However, it remains in their heartsas a source of cultural and historicpride,” Lia Miller notes.
The extended article refers toArmenians’ crafting skills, their hos-pitality and cooking abilities, as wellas the game of chess – a nationalpastime. It also covers the Arme-nian-American relations.
He added that what they offer isat least three times cheaper.
“We offer different solutions. Inone case the camera fixes the tempera-ture when a person walks in front of it.In a second case people need to standbefore the camera to get their tempera-ture measured. The second option ischeaper,” Ghazaryan said.
Ara Ghazaryan says Latin Ameri-can and Arabic countries are mostinterested in purchasing the scanners.Columbia has already installed them atthe entrances of hospitals.
As for Armenia, he says, the sys-tem is still too expensive for the country.
Scylla Thermal Scanner is usedfor preliminary screening purposes onlyand cannot be considered as proof or abasis for a medical diagnosis.
Scylla – a company with officesin Armenia and the US – is a leadingdeveloper of computer-vision basedfacial, behavior, and object recogni-tion tools for first responders.
Jack & Zarig Youredjian
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Arrest Warrants Issued for Fugitive Oligarchs
erators and largest Internet and cableTV provider.
The ex-minister’s two sons and anephew own a combined 77 percent ofthe Ucom stock. Gurgen Khachatryanis also the chairman of the company’sboard of directors.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashiniansaid through a spokeswoman thatKhachatryan and his relatives mustreturn hundreds of millions dollars sto-len from the people. She said relevantauthorities will allow the Khachatryansto sell their Ucom stake only if theyagree to transfer all proceeds fromsuch a deal to the government.
Late last month authorities ar-rested Sedrak Arustamyan, the top
manager of companies belonging toanother wealthy businessman, GagikTsarukyan.
The NSS claims that Arustamyanhad paid Gagik Khachatryan a $22.4million bribe to ensure privileged treat-ment of those companies by tax authori-ties. It says that the payment took theform of two bogus loans provided to theformer minister who was arrested oncorruption charges last August.
The NSS also summoned GurgenKhachatryan’s wife and mother forquestioning. Both women reportedlyrefused to testify as witnesses.“Gurgen Khachatrian is prepared topresent himself before the investigat-ing body at any moment if its actionsare brought back to the legal field,”said the lawyer.
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with coronavirus, rather than be lockeddown, because we cannot stay shutdown for one year.”
“The most important nuance ofthe decentralized struggle is that everycitizen of Armenia will shoulder re-sponsibility for the fight against theepidemic,” added Pashinyan.
The premier renewed his callsfor citizens to strictly follow socialdistancing rules and avoid touchingtheir faces with unwashed hands.
He admitted that the decision toessentially end the lockdown is “creat-ing the risk” of a faster spread of thevirus.
All reopened businesses have tocomply with safety requirements setby the Ministry of Health. In particu-lar, employers must ensure physicaldistancing among their workers andcustomers, frequently disinfect pre-mises, provide employees with handsanitizers and measure their tempera-ture on a daily basis. Those who havea fever must immediately leave theirworkplace and seek medical aid.
Wearing face masks and glovesis obligatory for only some categoriesof employees, notably waiters.
Meanwhile Health Minister ArsenTorosyan warned on Monday that thenumber of coronavirus cases in Arme-nia could quadruple by the end of thismonth, he also warned of the possibil-ity of a prolonged and much deadlier
epidemic as he met with Armenianlawmakers and answered their ques-tions.
“If we follow [safety and hy-giene] rules then we will manage tomake progress,” he told members ofthe parliament committee on healthcare.“If we don’t we will have explosiveoutbreaks which will result, for ex-ample, in 500,000 infected citizensand thousands of deaths. This sce-nario is not implausible.”
Speaking to reporters afterwards,Torosyan clarified that the staggeringnumbers cited by him are based on theWorld Health Organization’s projec-tions for the spread of the virus inArmenia made one month ago.
“Fortunately, that hasn’t hap-pened because we have managed tocontain the spread of infections,” hesaid. “Whether there will be 500,000,100,000 or 50,000 cases is hard to tellnow … but it’s our behavior that willdetermine their number.”
A “plausible scenario” now, hewent on, is that Armenia will have10,000 cases at the end of this month.“This number is large in the sense thatit’s more than [the number of infectedpeople] we can keep under control andwe will probably send some of themhome. But it’s not large in the sensethat we will be able to treat severe andcritical cases.”
The Ministry of Health has reportedgrowing daily numbers of new COVID-19 infections for the last two weeks.
Freedom House. “It is time for Euro-pean leaders who are committed tofreedom to address the crisis in theirown neighborhood. The United Statesalso has a pivotal role to play andshould rededicate itself to a foreignpolicy that emphasizes the defense ofdemocratic values.”
“The coronavirus crisis has cre-ated an inflection point, after whichthings could become much worse, ordemocracy could be revitalized,” saidAbramowitz. “We hope that this expe-rience will illustrate the importance oftransparent and accountable gover-nance and catalyze new demands forchange.”
The institutions of democracymonitored by Nations in Transit areunder attack across the board, andgovernments’ exploitation of COVID-19 may be accelerating these disturb-ing trends. The electoral frameworkhas been manipulated in a way thatgives undue advantage to incumbents,parliaments have become sidelined orhollowed out by opposition boycotts,and the independent media and civilsociety continue to face smear cam-paigns.
In a new development, the judi-ciary and the rule of law have alsobecome targets in many countries.Governments are packing courts withloyalists, adopting restrictive laws thatdo away with judicial independence,and in some cases persecuting indi-vidual judges. The indicator with thelargest number of declines in Nations
in Transit 2020 was Judicial Frame-work and Independence, with six coun-tries deteriorating: the Czech Repub-lic, Georgia, Latvia, Montenegro, Po-land, and Slovakia.
These shifts are taking place inan environment that was vulnerable toabuse even before the arrival ofCOVID-19, with long-term trends leav-ing countries increasingly exposed tomalicious foreign interference as demo-cratic consensus has been replaced bygreat-power rivalry.
“It is essential for democraticcountries to stand up to bullies, butthat’s only possible if leading politicianspromote democratic principles throughtheir words and actions,” said ZselykeCsaky, research director for Europeand Eurasia. “So far this has been lack-ing, resulting in shortsighted and desul-tory responses. To tackle the crisis andto arrest the democratic decline, wewill need cooperation, transparency,and accountability. If democracy is tosurvive in the world, it must be rein-vigorated from the inside, by the demo-cratic community itself.”
Nations in Transit 2020 has foundthat people’s yearning for democracyremains strong. New protest move-ments, often focusing on the environ-ment, have been springing up in manylocations, with citizens demandingbetter governance. A few countrieshave also been opening up or undergo-ing transitions toward more demo-cratic rule. While the jury is still out onthese transformations, they demon-strate the unceasing appeal of democ-racy in a variety of settings.
Armenia Sees the Largest Improvement
Armenia Reopens EconomyBERKELEY, CA— With stay-at-
home orders in place for communitiesthroughout Armenia, The Paros Foun-dation has risen to the challenge ofhelping feed Armenia’s elderly, at-riskand impoverished populations.
In the Berd Consolidated Com-munities, which is comprised of 17towns and villages in Armenia’s NorthEastern border with Azerbaijan, TheParos Foundation responded to an ur-gent need for food packets to be dis-tributed to 800 elderly and disabledresidents in these communities. Withfinancial support from the Armeniandiaspora, Paros staff quickly con-
acknowledged on Friday the broaderprotection of labor rights in Armenia isstill weak. She singled out the arbitrarydismissal of workers, saying that itremains widespread.
Tigranyan criticized the formerArmenian government for dissolvingthe State Labor Inspectorate, whichwas supposed to ensure such protec-
tion, in 2013. She said that decisionshould be offset by amendments to theLabor Code passed by the Armenianparliament late last year.
The amendments expanded thepowers of another, existing govern-ment agency, the Health and LaborInspectorate. Starting from July 2021,it will be tasked with not only ensuringthe physical safety of workers but alsoprotecting their social rights.
Paros #FeedingArmenia EffortResponds to Covid-19 Crisis
tracted with food suppliers to get thefood staples delivered to the Berd mu-nicipality where staff and volunteerscoordinated this massive distributioneffort. This process has been repeatedtwice to date.
When the spread of Covid-19closed schools throughout Armenia,the staff at the Debi Arach Children’sCenter took similar safety precautionsand closed its doors temporarily. This,however, created another problem.Many of the children that attend thisacademically focused after school pro-gram count on the nutrition they re-ceive as their main meal of the day.
The Paros Staff worked closely withleadership at the Debi Arach Children’sCenter to prepare and distribute foodpackets based on the number of chil-dren in each household to all the DebiArach families. This process has beenrepeated twice to date.
“We launched the #Feeding-Ar-menia campaign to immediately re-spond to this important need,” saidPeter Abajian, Executive Director ofThe Paros Foundation. “Our nextchallenge is how to reopen and oper-ate centers like Debi Arach in a safeand effective manner, while stayingtrue to its core mission. While thischallenge presents itself to every or-ganizations, I am proud of the factthat our team is already engaged inthese discussions and planning.”
In the town of Nor Keghi, themayor led an effort to provide food
support for his town’s elderly andat risk population. With supportfrom the Nor Geghe Associationand its Detroit-based leadershipand members, 25 families in needreceived a large food pack to sup-port them for approximately onemonth.
Armenia’s current stay-at-homeorder is slowly being lifted, and thehope is that the virus will not spread,but it is unclear when the need for#FeedingArmenia will cease. Whilemuch still remains uncertain, one thingis becoming clearer—Armenia will re-open to a new reality. Masks, greaterpersonal space and distancing and en-hanced personal hygiene will all be-come part of Armenia’s future. Tosupport #FeedingArmenia, or otherprojects of The Paros Foundation,please visit www.parosfoundation.org.
An elderly resident of Tavush’s Verin Tsakhavan Villagereceive a food packet distribution