Social conditions of street traders was ignored when banning street trade, Public Council member says
29.03.2011,
22:17
When the Yerevan municipality ordered a ban on street trade, it ignored the social conditions of street traders, Hovhanes Hovhanesian, a member of the presidential Public Council said today.
YEREVAN, March 29, / ARKA /. When the Yerevan municipality ordered a ban on street trade, it ignored the social conditions of street traders, Hovhanes Hovhanesian, a member of the presidential Public Council said today.
The new Yerevan mayor Karen Karapetian ordered the ban on street trade shortly after taking office. The ban was enforced by police that cleared sidewalks of people selling a wide range of goods, causing angry protests of street vendors who said they have lost their sole source of income. In return street vendors were offered to shift to markets.
Formally the street trade in Yerevan was banned by a 2004 municipality decision. The traders who will violate the ban will face a penalty between 10,000-20,000 Drams. According to the municipality, 3000 retail trade places are available at Yerevan markets .
Speaking at a news conference Hovhanes Hovhanesian said the municipality should have examined all aspects of the problem thoroughly before ordering the ban, like the traders’ social, economic conditions and the possible psychological repercussions of the move.
‘We have no reliable information about the number of people who were involved in street trade, about their daily incomes, the number of their family members involved in it and about the amount of kickbacks they paid to police officers and district administration officials,’ he said.
Speaking about the municipality’s proposal for street traders to move their businesses to retail markets, he said not every one was ready for it. In this sense he welcomed the mayor’s idea to build mini-markets that will start operating in the city from April.
Karine Danielian, chairperson of Association for Sustainable Human Development non-governmental organization welcomed the ban saying it was an ecological and sanitary problem, but agreed that before doing so the city authorities should have made a deeper look into the problem and take into account the traders’ social conditions. -0-
The new Yerevan mayor Karen Karapetian ordered the ban on street trade shortly after taking office. The ban was enforced by police that cleared sidewalks of people selling a wide range of goods, causing angry protests of street vendors who said they have lost their sole source of income. In return street vendors were offered to shift to markets.
Formally the street trade in Yerevan was banned by a 2004 municipality decision. The traders who will violate the ban will face a penalty between 10,000-20,000 Drams. According to the municipality, 3000 retail trade places are available at Yerevan markets .
Speaking at a news conference Hovhanes Hovhanesian said the municipality should have examined all aspects of the problem thoroughly before ordering the ban, like the traders’ social, economic conditions and the possible psychological repercussions of the move.
‘We have no reliable information about the number of people who were involved in street trade, about their daily incomes, the number of their family members involved in it and about the amount of kickbacks they paid to police officers and district administration officials,’ he said.
Speaking about the municipality’s proposal for street traders to move their businesses to retail markets, he said not every one was ready for it. In this sense he welcomed the mayor’s idea to build mini-markets that will start operating in the city from April.
Karine Danielian, chairperson of Association for Sustainable Human Development non-governmental organization welcomed the ban saying it was an ecological and sanitary problem, but agreed that before doing so the city authorities should have made a deeper look into the problem and take into account the traders’ social conditions. -0-
