© 2020. Photo: Matthew Henry
March 31, 2020
On 30 March 2020, at the initiative of the Armenian (RA) Government, the National Assembly convened in a special session to discuss a draft law proposing amendments to the State of Emergency Act (hereafter draft) [1].
While we greatly appreciate steps taken by the Government in terms of protecting public health and citizens’ lives, this draft law does not specifically address those issues. In cases of emergency, measures taken by the State should not deviate from the principles of democracy, human rights and rule of law. The new amendments developed by the government contain a number of problematic regulations that create disproportionate and unnecessary restrictions in terms of protection of personal data, respect for privacy of personal and family life, freedom of communications and exercise of the right to privacy.
It should be noted that in the current state of emergency, restrictions on the right to free movement have already been put in place. The principle of proportionality requires that preference be given to less intrusive solutions, considering the specific purpose the regulations look to achieve [2]. The introduction of additional control mechanisms could undermine the entire human rights system and could have irreversible consequences on the activities of Armenia’s democratic institutions.
The Council of Europe and the European Union have already emphasized issues related to personal data protection in the fight against the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-2019) [3].
Questions now arise as to what security mechanisms and means will be used to prevent personal data breaches and access to that data by third parties. There is also a problem concerning where personal data will be stored. There is no connection between personal data being processed and the established goal. Plus, questions arise as to the appropriateness of monitoring information such as caller numbers, their duration, and everything not directly related to the movement of persons.
Unlike GPS tracking, location data has very low accuracy. So, the benefits of its use are highly questionable. In other words, this collection of data will serve no purpose in the fight against the current pandemic. Moreover, the tools used to process this data are quite expensive and require large amounts of funding from the State budget. Therefore, we urge the Government not to waste its resources on documenting and processing meaningless data.
The lack of an effective mechanism for tracking and preventing possible abuses of individual rights as a result of the proposed restrictions will likely lead to gross human rights violations that fail to achieve the intended goal of preventing further coronavirus infections. Instead, it could make people’s lives less safe and more vulnerable.
We deem the draft amendment to the State of Emergency Act to be a very serious violation of personal data protection rules, respect for privacy of personal and family life, freedom of communications and privacy rights. Therefore, we demand it be pulled from the Parliament’s agenda.
At the same time, we urge the Government to invest all possible resources and efforts to contact persons thought to be infected with the virus and to enforce their isolation. We also ask that it increase medical testing for the population, which is the most effective way to detect new cases of the illness in a timely manner.
Open Society Foundations-Armenia
Peace Dialogue NGO
Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly–Vanadzor
“Asparez” Journalists’ Club
Centre for Community Mobilization and Support NGO
Analytical Centre on Globalization and Regional Cooperation
Ara Ghazaryan – Lawyer
Araik Papikyan – Lawyer
Tehmine Yenokyan – Jounrnalist
Veles Human Rights NGO
Protection of Rights without Borders NGO
Harout Haroutyunyan – citizen
[1] See http://www.parliament.am/
[2] Statement on the processing of personal data in the context of the COVID-19 outbreak․
Adopted on 19 March 2020, pg. 3;
[3] Statement on the processing of personal data in the context of the COVID-19 outbreak․
Adopted on 19 March 2020;
Joint Statement on the right to data protection in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic by Alessandra Pierucci, Chair of the Committee of Convention 108 and Jean-Philippe Walter, Data Protection Commissioner of the Council of Europe․
Adopted on 30 March 2020.
