On 31 July 2018, the first of its kind Government-Civil Society Organisations Dialogue forum entitled “Current State and Development Prospects of Trade Unions” was held within the framework of the EU-funded “Commitment to Constructive Dialogue” Project. Around 160 participants from state agencies, trade unions, civil society and business organisations attended the forum.
Project Manager, President of the Armenian Lawyers’ Association Karen Zadoyan said that a bridge is being created between civil society organisations and the government, local self-government through this project, with the purpose of starting a constructive dialogue and achieving their goals more effectively.
In Karen Zadoyan’s words, as a result of these discussions aimed at implementing legislative reforms in the field of trade unions that are meant to protect the rights of workers, as well as developing them, all issues will be mapped and summarised, and the recommendations on their solution will be sent to the government.
President of the Confederation of Trade Unions of Armenia Eduard Tumasyan highlighted the importance of this field and the organisation of such events: “The dialogue between the civil society and the government will give us serious results in our work. Trade unions are transparent and ready for cooperation.”
Deputy Minister of Labour and Social Affairs Arman Udumyan noted that the government’s vision is to have independent and powerful trade unions: “One of the prerequisites for their development is their independence, their level of confidence. As a result, the scope of workers’ rights social protection will be expanded.”
During the event, four panel discussions were held on the following topics: “Movement of Trade Unions in the Republic of Armenia – Current State and Development Prospects;” “Compatibility of the RA Labour Code with the Conventions of the International Labour Organisation (ILO);” “Prospects for the Development of Social Partnership in Armenia;” “Mechanisms of Social-Labour Rights Protection in Armenia.”
The Forum was organised on the initiative of the Armenian Lawyers’ Association and implemented in cooperation with the Confederation of Trade Unions of Armenia and the RA Ministry of Labour and Social Issues.
The “Commitment to Constructive Dialogue” Project is implemented with the financial support of the European Union by a Consortium of civil society organisations, which are the Armenian Lawyers’ Association, Agora Central Europe o.p.s (an NGO from the Czech Republic), the Armenian Center for Democratic Education-CIVITAS, the “International Center for Human Development” Public Organization, the SME Cooperation Association and the Union of Communities of Armenia.
The overall objective of the project is to enhance the influence of CSOs on the public policy process, and the specific objectives are to strengthen the ability of CSOs to build coalitions and focus on constructive and strategic policy engagement with local and central government partners. This will enable organisations (which already work in targeted coalitions) to acquire new resources, to join and encourage the civil society experts to engage in and encourage their participation in the formation of the local and national policies agenda; to identify common issues and priorities; and to address the government with constructive and strategic policy initiatives.
The project has a sub-granting component, under which grants will be provided to CSOs and CSO Coalitions, which will be directed to the development of public policies and will have tangible results in 9 target areas, including justice, education and business.
