The newly appointed ombudsman of Armenia Karen Andreasyan has fully entered into his duties and order. Definitely when being appointed ombudsman he was instructed to speak of the problems of “ordinary citizens” much, which is what he is trying to do now. Yesterday he presented a report on summing up his work of the past 100 days. The report covers the social problems and rights of citizens. “Currently 34,1% of Armenia’s population is poor, which means that every third person is poor. The minimum salary limit of 32.500 drams is not based on the minimum calculation of the basket of goods, and it is not considered as social policy and ground for social calculations implemented by the state. ” According to the ombudsman, also the minimum basket of goods based on the real prices in the market should be taken into account, which in fact makes more than 52.000 drams, and this is the money that a person needs to take care of the minimum needs. “No methodology in the world can prove that the budget of 32.500 drams can be considered as minimum budget for a person in Armenia,” concludes the ombudsman. This is a very sentimental text. Unfortunately Armenia is not in a situation when the ombudsman can afford speaking much about the social problems of people. Before speaking of social problems there are many legal problems concerning human rights that Karen Andreasyan does not speak about (he is ordered to do so). When the ombudsman of a country that has political prisoners is concerned of the social basket prices, it means that his goal is to “blow dust into the eyes of the society”.
