YEREVAN. – Friday’s silent and symbolic demonstration outside the Constitutional Court (CC), and by members of the “Dem Em [I am against]” civic initiative which opposes the mandatory component of the new pension law in Armenia, lasted only fifteen minutes.
The initiative members distributed ribbons to those who had assembled, and the latter tied their eyes with these ribbons as a sign of their call to the CC for impartial justice.
The protestors stood outside the CC building with tied eyes, “Dem Em” banners, signs, and the image of Femida—the Roman Goddess of Justice—for about fifteen minutes, and left the area thereafter.
As reported earlier, the CC commenced, on Friday morning, the hearings on the lawsuit, pursuant to which several provisions in the controversial Law On Funded Pensions—in particular, its mandatory component—are contested.
The new funded pension plan, which formally came into force in Armenia on January 1, 2014, is mandatory for those born in and after 1974 and voluntary for those born before 1974. In line with this plan, 5 to 10 percent of the monthly salaries in Armenia will be deducted and mandatorily be allocated to cumulative pension funds; the latter will be reimbursed as pensions once a person turns 63 years old.
On January 24, however, the Constitutional Court decided to suspend the execution of some components in the Law on Funded Pensions pending Friday’s hearing of the petition submitted by the four non-ruling-coalition parliamentary factions—i.e., the Armenian National Congress, Prosperous Armenia, ARF Dashnaktsutyun, and Heritage.
Notwithstanding this, some employers already are deducting the mandatory pension payment from the salaries of their employees.
The law caused dissatisfaction among Armenia’s civil society, and therefore paved the way for the establishment of the “Dem Em [I am against]” civic initiative, which opposes the new pension law in Armenia.
The four non-ruling-coalition parliamentary factions likewise are against this new law, and they declare that its mandatory component is unconstitutional.
Photo by Arsen Sargsyan/NEWS.am
