Epress.am News from Armenia
Coalition to Stop Violence against Women NGO marked the beginning of its 16-day awareness and advocacy campaign against gender-based violence with a march to the Government building where activists passed letters to Armenian Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan and Justice Minister Arpine Hovhannisyan demanding adoption of domestic violence law in Armenia.
Violence remains widespread in Armenian families, march participant, publicist Zara Hovhannisyan told Epress.am, however, the country has no legal mechanisms to deal with the crime since a law on prevention of domestic violence has still not been passed.
"Let's fight domestic violence together"
"From peace in the family to peace in the world”
Back in October, Armenian women's rights organizations appealed to the Government over the adoption of the above-mentioned law, and the cabinet replied that “a bill is currently being developed.” In their letters to the PM and Justice Minister, today's march participants called on the officials to involve professionals dealing with women's rights in the development process.
"Indifference can cost a life"
Note, the Armenian parliament has already rejected a bill on domestic violence in 2013, claiming that “Armenia needs no such laws.”
“When developing a law in this field, [authorities] must discuss the matter with professionals who've been engaged in women's rights protection for years and have a lot of experience in the field. If the country has such resources, the Government has to involve these professionals in the development process,” Zara Hovhannisyan stated.
"Some wounds are invisible"
The publicist added that the law should be adopted urgently since women's rights organizations are “unable to deal” with all the consequences of violence. “First of all, they can't manage to. And secondly, there are issues we are unable to solve – provision of education to children from families affected by domestic violence, allowances and rehabilitation for domestic violence victims, to name a few.”
