Armenia

Armenia

Right	Section	Contents
Freedom of Association	History	Freedom of association is asserted in Article 25 of the 1995 Constitution of the Republic of Armenia: "Everyone has the right to form associations with other persons, including the right to form or join trade unions. Every citizen is entitled to form political parties with other citizens and join such parties. These rights may be restricted for persons belonging to the armed forces and law enforcement organizations. No one shall be forced to join a political party or association." References: 1995 Constitution of the Republic of Armenia: http://www.parliament.am/legislation.php?sel=show&ID=2425&lang=eng
Freedom of Expression	History	The 1990 Declaration of Independence of Armenia guaranteed freedom of speech. Article 24 of the 1995 Constitution of Armenia also guaranteed freedom of speech, using language that suggests modes of expression analogous to speech: "Everyone is entitled to assert his or her opinion. No one shall be forced to retract or change his or her opinion. Everyone is entitled to freedom of speech, including the freedom to seek, receive and disseminate information and ideas through any medium of information, regardless of state borders." This constitution was amended in 2005, and Article 27 of the version amended amended in 2005 specifies a guarantee of freedom of expression: "Everyone shall have the right to freely express his/her opinion. No one shall be forced to recede or change his/her opinion. Everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression including freedom to search for, receive and impart information and ideas by any means of information regardless of the state frontiers." References: Armenian Declaration of Independence: https://www.gov.am/en/independence/ "Constitution of the Republic of Armenia" (1995): http://www.parliament.am/legislation.php?sel=show&ID=2425&lang=eng "Constitution of the Republic of Armenia (with the Amendments of 27 November 2005)": http://www.parliament.am/legislation.php?sel=show&ID=1&lang=eng
Freedom of Religion	History	The 1990 Declaration of Independence of Armenia guaranteed freedom of conscience. The 1995 Constitution of Armenia contains a more detailed assertion of freedom of religion in Article 23: "Everyone is entitled to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion. The freedom to exercise one's religion and beliefs may only be restricted by law on the grounds prescribed in Article 45 of the Constitution. Amendment of the 1995 Armenia Constitution in 2005 resulted in still more specific articulation of the right: "Everyone shall have the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. This right includes freedom to change the religion or belief and freedom to, either alone or in community with others manifest the religion or belief, through preaching, church ceremonies and other religious rites." In addition to this articulation of the protection of belief and protection, Article 8.1 of the Armenia Constitution as amended in 2005 "recognizes the exclusive historical mission of the Armenian Apostolic Holy Church as a national church", but also asserts the separation of church and state in Armenia. The same article also guarantees that: "Freedom of activities for all religious organizations in accordance with the law shall be guaranteed in the Republic of Armenia". References: Armenian Declaration of Independence: https://www.gov.am/en/independence/ "Constitution of the Republic of Armenia" (1995): http://www.parliament.am/legislation.php?sel=show&ID=2425&lang=eng "Constitution of the Republic of Armenia (with the Amendments of 27 November 2005)": http://www.parliament.am/legislation.php?sel=show&ID=1&lang=eng
Freedom of the Press	History	The 1990 Declaration of Independence of Armenia guaranteed freedom of the press. Article 24 of the 1995 Constitution of Armenia asserted freedoms relevant to freedom of the press: "Everyone is entitled to assert his or her opinion. No one shall be forced to retract or change his or her opinion. Everyone is entitled to freedom of speech, including the freedom to seek, receive and disseminate information and ideas through any medium of information, regardless of state borders." After amendment in 2005, additional language relevant to freedom of the press was added to the Constitution of Armenia: "Freedom of mass media and other means of mass information shall be guaranteed. The state shall guarantee the existence and activities of an independent and public radio and television service offering a variety of informational, cultural and entertaining programs." Article 42 of the Constitution of Armenia after amendment in 2015 state the right explicitly: "The freedom of the press, radio, television and other means of information shall be guaranteed. The State shall guarantee the activities of independent public television and radio offering diversity of informational, educational, cultural and entertainment programmes." References: Armenian Declaration of Independence: https://www.gov.am/en/independence/ "Constitution of the Republic of Armenia" (1995): http://www.parliament.am/legislation.php?sel=show&ID=2425&lang=eng "Constitution of the Republic of Armenia (with the Amendments of 27 November 2005)": http://www.parliament.am/legislation.php?sel=show&ID=1&lang=eng "Amendments to the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia" (2015): http://www.parliament.am/legislation.php?sel=show&ID=5805&lang=eng
Privacy Rights	History	The 1995 Armenian constitution protects several elements of the right to privacy in Articles 20-21. Article 20 states: "Everyone is entitled to defend his or her private and family life from unlawful interference and defend his or her honor and reputation from attack. The gathering, maintenance, use and dissemination of illegally obtained information about a person's private and family life are prohibited. Everyone has the right to confidentiality in his or her correspondence, telephone conversations, mail, telegraph and other communications, which may only be restricted by court order." Article 21 concerned privacy in the home: "Everyone is entitled to privacy in his or her own dwelling. It is prohibited to enter a person's dwelling against his or her own will except under cases prescribed by law. A dwelling may be searched only by court order and in accordance with legal procedures." The 2005 amendments to the Constitution of Armenia added language more explicitly focused on state-collected data and information: "Everyone shall have the right to become acquainted with the data concerning him/her available in the state and local self-government bodies. Everyone shall have the right to correction of any non-verified information and elimination of the illegally obtained information about him/her." Articles 31-34 of the Constitution of Armenia as amended in 2015 offered further details about these rights. Article 34 created more firmly articulated data rights: "1. Everyone shall have the right to protection of data concerning him or her. 2. The processing of personal data shall be carried out in good faith, for the purpose prescribed by law, with the consent of the person concerned or without such consent in case there exists another legitimate ground prescribed by law. 3. Everyone shall have the right to get familiar with the data concerning him or her collected at state and local self-government bodies and the right to request correction of any inaccurate data concerning him or her, as well as elimination of data obtained illegally or no longer having legal grounds. 4. The right to get familiar with personal data may be restricted only by law, for the purpose of state security, economic welfare of the country, preventing or disclosing crimes, protecting public order, health and morals or the basic rights and freedoms of others. 5. Details related to the protection of personal data shall be prescribed by law." Finally, in 2015 the Constitution specified the conditions under which these rights might be restricted by the law, asserting that they "may be restricted only by law, for the purpose of state security, economic welfare of the country, preventing or disclosing crimes, protecting public order, health and morals or the basic rights and freedoms of others." References: "Constitution of the Republic of Armenia" (1995): http://www.parliament.am/legislation.php?sel=show&ID=2425&lang=eng "Constitution of the Republic of Armenia (with the Amendments of 27 November 2005)": http://www.parliament.am/legislation.php?sel=show&ID=1&lang=eng "Amendments to the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia" (2015): http://www.parliament.am/legislation.php?sel=show&ID=5805&lang=eng
Voting Rights and Suffrage	History	Article 1 of the 1995 Constitution of Armenia states that Armenia is a "sovereign, democratic state." Article 2 states: "The people exercise their power through free elections and referenda, as well as through state and local self-governing bodies and public officials as provided by the Constitution." Article 27 of the 1995 Constitution states: "Citizens of the Republic of Armenia who have attained the age of eighteen years are entitled to participate in the government of the state directly or through their freely elected representatives. Citizens found to be incompetent by a court ruling, or duly convicted of a crime and serving a sentence may not vote or be elected." References: "Constitution of the Republic of Armenia" (1995): http://www.parliament.am/legislation.php?sel=show&ID=2425&lang=eng