Freedom on the Net 2022: Armenia ranked as ‘free” country
Posted on October. 28. 2022
The Freedom House has ranked Armenia as a “free” country in its annual Freedom on the Net 2022: Countering an Authoritarian Overhaul of the Internet report.
Armenia’s neighbor Georgia is also a “free” country, Azerbaijan and Turkey are ranked as “not free.” Armenia’s southern neighbor Iran is “partly free.”
According to the report, in Armenia, domestic and international civil society groups combined public condemnation with private advocacy to persuade the government to repeal a criminal defamation clause that was originally passed in July 2021. The legislation, which criminalized serious insults of government officials and public figures, was invoked throughout the year to prosecute users who shared critical commentary.
Civil society activists aired their concerns in private meetings with diplomats and in Armenian news outlets, and their objections were then cited in a formal appeal to the Constitutional Court. Government officials agreed to exclude the provision from a new criminal code that took effect in July 2022, and committed to broad consultation with nongovernmental groups when developing media-related laws in the future.
The report says global internet freedom declined for the 12th consecutive year. China was the world’s worst environment for internet freedom for the eighth consecutive year.
At the same time, a record 26 countries experienced internet freedom improvements. Despite the overall global decline, civil society organizations in many countries have driven collaborative efforts to improve legislation, develop media resilience, and ensure accountability among technology companies.