20 July, 2020
To help fight the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in Armenia, Open Society Foundations-Armenia has to date provided over US $600,000. From the first days of the outbreak in the country, OSF-Armenia, faithful to its mission, has continued to defend the values of open society, such as respect for human rights and freedoms, transparent and accountable governance, access to justice, and civil society support.
In this unprecedented crisis, OSF-Armenia has voiced the opinions of civil society, duly responding to the need to protect human rights, especially those of vulnerable groups, because in any crisis, the rights of vulnerable groups are among the rights to be more frequently jeopardized and breached. In the response to COVID-19, OSF-Armenia’s attention focuses on protecting the rights of single elderly persons, persons with disabilities or chronic illnesses, persons with mental health issues, persons living with HIV, victims of domestic violence, refugees, ethnic minorities, and socially-vulnerable families. OSF-Armenia has helped to promote the issues related to the protection of the rights of vulnerable groups, in addition to making direct social assistance available to them in order to cope with the difficulties induced by the pandemic and self-isolation.
To help the country’s public health system to fight COVID-19 and to promote wider testing of the population, OSF-Armenia provided over US $50,000 to purchase PCR test kits. Personal protective equipment and gear have been made available for frontline doctors and other medical personnel.
In view of the dangers associated with the entry and spreading of COVID-19 in closed and semi-closed institutions, as well as the limited access of persons deprived of their liberty to health services, OSF-Armenia has funded, and Armenia’s Ministry of Justice has coordinated, the implementation by the National Health Institute of a course on infection prevention and management, and professional support training for the medical personnel of penitentiary institutions. To organize these remote courses properly, OSF-Armenia helped to donate 13 computers to the medical units in penitentiary institutions.
OSF-Armenia has ensured the proper delivery of health services to persons living with HIV and to beneficiaries of palliative care, which are in the high-risk group. 150 patients received vital medication.
Emergency social assistance in the form of food and hygiene supplies packages was provided to over 5,000 citizens self-isolating in Yerevan and the regions, namely single elderly persons, persons with disabilities or chronic illnesses, persons living with HIV, persons with incurable diseases, and socially-vulnerable families. Social assistance was provided to 120 Syrian Armenian families living in Armenia. Emergency assistance was provided to certain families from the Yezidi community in Armenia, the members of which lost their jobs and means of subsistence because of the pandemic. To mitigate the impact of the pandemic on families with newborns and socially-vulnerable families, OSF-Armenia provided around US $50,000 to have infant clothes and hygiene supplies delivered to 250 families in remote parts of the Tavush region.
Self-isolation due to COVID-19 has created additional difficulties for women, especially women that are victims of domestic violence. OSF-Armenia provided over US $30,000 to organizations protecting women’s right in order to deliver emergency assistance to over 100 women that have suffered from domestic violence and are self-isolating in Yerevan and Armenia’s regions.
The COVID-19 pandemic has made more obvious the problem of inequity in Armenia’s education system—a problem that OSF-Armenia has always been vocal about. OSF-Armenia has taken steps during the pandemic to make education accessible especially to those children that do not have sufficient hardware or skills to take part in the remote learning process organized by the state. OSF-Armenia helped to produce and broadcast 176 video lessons in Armenian language and mathematics to elementary school pupils of the Shirak region, as well as the re-broadcasting of these videos in the Gegharkunik and Lori regions.
OSF-Armenia has helped to organize public awareness campaigns, webinars, and online discussions on the pandemic in order to encourage citizens to demonstrate a high level of social responsibility and to follow the epidemiological rules.
Open Society Foundations-Armenia, together with its partners, continues to observe the processes in the country in order to make sure that the Government’s response to COVID-19 does not allow a retreat from the principles of democracy, human rights, and the rule of law.