Epress.am News from Armenia
The Women’s Resource Center of Armenia (WRCA) has invited to a discussion in April all those political parties that have candidates in the May 6 parliamentary election — to find out their campaign platform as it relates to protecting women’s rights, said WRCA Executive Director Lara Aharonian, in conversation with Epress.am today, adding that only after the discussion will the NGO decide to which party it will lend its support.
“We don’t know yet which party has what platform for protecting women’s rights, which it considers the biggest issues in gender equality in Armenia and how it envisions the solution to these issues. We are preparing to learn about their plans and we have questions for the parties, tied to those issues that, in our opinion, are priorities and require immediate solutions,” she said.
The Women’s Resource Center, according to Aharonian, believes that the first steps the new parliament has to take in protecting women’s rights are two legislative amendments and developing a program to overcome poverty among women.
“A bill on sexual assault was approved at its first reading [in parliament], but during the election campaign period future readings of this issue have been postponed. We have to be sure that the new National Assembly won’t forget this important issue. The second legislative amendment is developing and adopting a law on domestic violence,” she said.