SEC. 306. PROTECTING RIGHTS OF PEACE CORPS VOLUNTEERS.

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(c) Right To Publish Without Prior Approval-

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(2) EXCEPTION RELATED TO COUNTRY-SPECIFIC MATERIAL-

(A) APPROVAL REQUIREMENT- A Peace Corps volunteer shall be required to submit to a Country Director for review and prior approval any stories, articles, or other material that the volunteer intends to publish that relate specifically to the Peace Corps program operating in the country where the volunteer is serving or to policies or actions by officials of the government of such country.

In 2006 I remember that PCVs had to have permission to write online. Last year, I remember that PCV blogs were monitored internally, which makes sense.

Anyway, it appears as though the PC has become flexible and open in the South Caucasus and now all that’s required is some kind of disclaimer.

In my opinion, this is important because there are very few bloggers based outside of the capital living in the regions. Offhand, apart from PCVs, I can’t think of any that write anything substantial.

Even in terms of the media, there’s precious little information coming from outside the capital and what is there is usually politicized and funded. It’s not the same as a real account.

I also think that being based there, living in rural communities, PCVs have the added benefit of seeing life as it is in the capital when they come down every so often and are able to compare it with the situation in the rest of the country.

http://www.opencongress.org/bill/110-s732/text

PCVEs are allowed to write blogs for any reason.

The problems happen when local politics are involved, but that is part of the writing. The causcus and ‘Stans’ had a very prolific blogger that advocated the overthrow of governments during the ‘rose revolutions.’ So, some people are sensitive about ‘throwing off the blanket of Soviet era thinking.’ This, combined with the history of PC, made problems with the host countries. The blogger was not told to stop blogging, but didn’t get a job with USAID or anther agency. He was hired by PC.

Consider it omitted because of space, ok? You certainly shouldn’t consider it as an omission because I don’t like it. Besides, you finished your service in Armenia in August and I wanted to focus on current blogs from PCVs still in the country so people can follow their entries.

-Dominic