Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan made a speech in online format at the event entitled "Media Freedom as a Cornerstone of Democracy" held within the framework of the second Summit for Democracy.
In his speech, the Prime Minister particularly noted:
“Excellences,
Esteemed Colleagues,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Talking of a “free press” we emphasize the value of the press acting independently of the state, sometimes providing information on matters that governments would prefer not to make public.
As a former editor-in chief and journalist, I know full well, from my own experience, the importance of being able to function without interference from the state, since one of the aspects of our work was to scrutinize and make public the actions of the government.
My colleagues and I had to face a number of so called “criminal cases” and verdicts with trumped- up charges aimed at silencing the independent press.
So I know better than anyone the challenges and difficulties the media representatives might encounter during their work.
Realizing the importance of freedom of speech and free expression, our government provides all the mechanisms for developing free press as an essential part of true democracy.
Armenia is continuously implementing reforms aimed at improving its legislation for ensuring better environment for media and the journalists to implement their professional duties safely and freely.
Thanks to it, last year Armenia recorded unprecedented progress in the World Press Freedom Index, improving its position by 12 points and ranking 51st on the list of 180 countries.
According to Freedom House's "Internet Freedom 2022" index, Armenia qualifies as a "free" among 70 countries.
In the era of technological advancement when the concept of the journalism has elevated to the online platform, more efforts and actions are required to deal with the protection of the rights of those concerned.
Nowadays we should admit, that some new challenges emerge for the freedom of media, speech and expression. That is fake news that become a real problem for democratic countries. But even this challenge isn’t able to derail us from our belief. Freedom of media and speech is a pillar for democracy.
We didn’t put any restrictions on media freedom and internet even during the 2020 large-scale war initiated by Azerbaijan against Nagorno-Karabakh.
In this context I would like to highlight the issues of safety for media professionals. I wish to take this opportunity to pay a tribute to a number of courageous media workers who were risking their lives in conflict areas around the world.
The rights of free press and expression must be respected and protected at all times. I would like to reiterate that Armenia will be in the future as well fully supporting and promoting international efforts aimed at ensuring free and independent media.
Thank you”.
The event "Media Freedom as a Cornerstone of Democracy" was organized by the Netherlands, which is one of the 5 countries co-hosting the second Summit for Democracy. Among the participants are high-ranking officials of a number of countries, experts dealing with issues of press freedom, representatives of civil society, human rights organizations, media, private sector, as well as novice journalists. Freedom of the press and democracy, safety of journalists, freedom of speech on the Internet, the establishment of free and independent mass media and the future development of the sector are on the agenda of the thematic discussions.
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Leaders of more than 100 countries, as well as representatives of civil society and international democratic institutions, are participating in the second Summit for Democracy, which is being held online. The co-host countries for the event are the United States of America, Costa Rica, the Netherlands, Republic of Korea and Zambia. The topics to be discussed are as follows: Fulfillment of the commitments of the first Summit for Democracy 2021, challenges to democracy, as well as strengthening democratic values: governance accountability, rule of law, protection of human rights, freedom of the press, inclusive economic growth, etc.
