Human Rights Watch (HRW) has criticized the Armenian government’s bill for the mandatory installation of video surveillance systems with 24-hour police access throughout the capital, Yerevan, describing it as “unjustified” and asserting that it “interferes with privacy and other rights.”
The bill, which passed its first parliamentary review in June 2024, requires private entities in Yerevan to install surveillance cameras and provide police with live feed and access to recordings on demand. Armenian officials have also indicated they intend to use artificial intelligence (AI) video analytics to monitor the recordings.
“Widespread, indiscriminate video surveillance would inevitably lead to unjustified intrusions on privacy and cannot be defended as a measure necessary to improve public security in a democracy,” said Giorgi Gogia, associate Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch.
“Mass surveillance in public spaces would have a chilling effect on fundamental civil and political rights,” added the HRW Associate in a statement released by the organization on October 31.
HRW said Armenian officials should scrap the bill, or at the very least suspend consideration of it, until it is amended to comply with international human rights standards, stating, “They should also consider requesting the Venice Commission, the Council of Europe’s advisory body on constitutional matters, to assess the bill.”
The systems in question collect personal data related to individuals’ identities, movements, and associations, and therefore should be subject to clear limitations to protect the right to privacy and other rights, Human Rights Watch said, stressing that a number of international bodies, including the UN Human Rights Committee, the European Court of Human Rights and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights have provided clear assessments on this issue.
Earlier, Armenia’s Data Protection Agency also criticized the bill, as did the Justice Ministry, the Ombudsperson’s Office, and the Central Bank of Armenia. “However, the government remained undeterred by these criticisms and slated the bill for a parliamentary vote this year,” said HRW.
Human Rights Watch said that in August it addressed letters to Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Interior Minister Vahe Ghazarian and Security Council Secretary Armen Grigoryan, seeking clarifications over the controversial legislation. However, according to the organization, it has not received any replies.
Human Rights Watch also reminded that during the debate over the bill officials also did not rule out the use of artificial intelligence (AI) video analytics to monitor the recordings. “When facial recognition technology is used on a large number of people, even low rates of error may result in the inaccurate flagging of hundreds of individuals,” the UN high commissioner on human rights said earlier.
Human Rights Watch, on its part, stressed that “the mere existence of video surveillance in public areas can have a chilling effect on fundamental rights, such as freedoms of assembly, association, and expression, as well as the right to privacy” and that “using artificial intelligence to review widespread surveillance would heighten those risks.”
“It is clear that the proposed surveillance bill is inconsistent with Armenia’s international obligations. The government should rescind the legislative initiative or at least pause its adoption until it addresses the concerns raised by local and international actors,” said Gogia, emphasizing that sending the bill for the Venice Commission analysis would be “a critical first step.” Armenian government officials did not respond to the criticism immediately.
The bill in question was posted on the government’s website in December 2022, but the government only greenlighted it in April 2024. The Armenian parliament is expected to vote on the bill before the end of the year.
