At what stage is the Law on Domestic Violence?

“Although many people in Armenia do not perceive domestic violence as a problem, its volumes are increasing. In 2013-2015, 5171 primary calls were received on domestic violence via NGO hotlines. This is data provided only by three organizations, which is a pretty big number. In the same period 30 women were killed in domestic violence and 45 children were left without parental care”, – said the Head of the Women’s rights center Susanna Vardanyan during the press conference held today at Media Center.

The press conference was also attended by the Head of Women’s Resoutce Center Lara Aharonyan, Policy and communication director of “Society without violence” NGO Lida Minasyan, Republican MP Karine Achemyan and deputy director of Police criminal investigation third division Artur Vardanyan.

Number of hotline calls is increasing year by year, but according to him, this does not evidence about the increase of cases of domestic violence. “Probably women have become more informed and have started speaking about violence cases”, – he said.

During the first 9 months of this year almost two thousand cases of domestic violence were registered. These are only cases about which women have talked. There are many cases which are not registered at all. Especially women living in regions are vulnerable in this regard. So the real volume of cases of domestic violence is great”, – added Lida Minasyan/, Policy and communication director of “Society without violence” NGO Lida Minasyan.

The picture is different according to police data. Number of violence cases is four times lower than the data provided by NGOs. “In 2015, 535 cases of domestic violence were registered. These cases relate to violence against women and children as well”, – said Artur Vardanyan.

According to police in 2015 the number of domestic violence cases and death cases due to them has been declined.

Full text in Armenian