When the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Board of Directors formed by U.S. President George Bush decided to grant Armenia 236.5 million dollars in 2005, the Armenian government tried to look at that decision as proof of the just complementariness and the progress of Armenia in different fields.
Based on the MCC-Armenia Compact signed in March 2006, which went into effect last September, it is foreseen to reduce the level of poverty in the villages. The Armenian government plans on doing that by investing strategically in village roads and irrigation and providing financial and economic aid through the means of a five-year program for farmers and agro-business. However, it turned out that even complementariness can’t guarantee success in “getting” the necessary grant before the parliamentary elections. Right after the decision it became clear that the U.S. was going to use the MCC program as a means to pressure the Armenian authorities in order to see progress in democracy, “ruling justly”, freedom of speech and other issues.
In the letter sent to President Robert Kocharyan in December 2005, the president of the corporation and ambassador John Danilovich criticized the Government of Armenia and expressed his concerns regarding the conduct of the November 27 constitutional referendum, including allegations of fraud, electoral mismanagement, and mistreatment of individuals from oppositional political parties and uneven access to the media
J. Danilovich had also written to Kocharyan that Armenia had slipped on two of the indicators within MCC’s “Ruling Justly” category. Danilovich had also stated that the monitoring groups had informed the Armenian government that progress in the areas of political rights, access to the media and political freedoms was necessary to avoid either suspension or termination of the Compact. “The events surrounding the referendum cause us to question whether this progress is being made. We await your government’s actions demonstrating a strong desire to improve performance,” wrote president of the MCC John Danilovich to Robert Kocharyan. Senior Representative of the Millennium Challenges Corporation Alex Rassin announced that Armenia had slipped in the “Ruling Justly” category and the Armenian people must know one thing: “The program will continue depending on how well Armenia follows the standards not only now, but also during the entire program.” What’s interesting is that the money is not going to be provided immediately. The payments are made on a three-month basis and only 1.39 million dollars has been transferred until now. In other words, the corporation is trying its best to make the Government of Armenia become more democratic or else the corporation might terminate the program. Neither Danilovich nor Rassin said how they were going to decide whether or not Armenia has progressed in the mentioned fields and based on what organization’s information. However, I must say that the reports of some international organizations after their announcements are not too promising and give the corporation the opportunity to terminate the program at any given time. First, the “Freedom House” organization called on the Millennium Challenges Corporation to terminate the program with Armenia for not protecting political rights and freedoms. The “Freedom House” experts mentioned that Armenia is lagging in behind in reforms. Then the “Transparency International” organization gave out information according to which Armenia remained at the 93rd spot for corruption in the list of 163 countries and the anti-corruption struggle continues to be simply an “act”. Recently another organization, the “Human Rights Watch” organization, reported, “threats to media freedom in Armenia continued in 2006, as more journalists faced harassment and attacks, and broadcast media lack pluralism and remain largely pro-government.” “Armenian Public Television is not independent to provide unbiased information about events due to the control of the Armenian government,” as stated in the report. Among the attacks on journalists were the attacks on executive director of the “Lori” television of Vanadzor Narine Avetisyan and journalist for “Chorrord Ishkhanutyun” Gagik Shamshyan, the beating of the editor of “Iravunk” and the imprisonment of editor of “Zhamanak Yerevan”. According to experts, in all cases journalists have been attacked based on their professional activity. “Over the past two years, the government forced hundreds of central Yerevan residents to vacate their homes to allow for construction of a business district. Many felt that government compensation was well below the market value of their properties,” mentioned the authors of the report. The report also mentions the removal of the first ombudsman of Armenia Larisa Alaverdyan. “After the administration of the first ombudsman gave a speech criticizing the work of the government of Armenia, the relations between Larisa Alaverdyan and the President of Armenia tensioned and in January 2006 President Robert Kocharyan removed L. Alaverdyan from office. Something which puts the responsibility of the Armenian government of having an independent ombudsman institute under suspicion,” says the “Human Rights Watch” organization.