Arpine Hovhannisyan: “The concerns that existed in the public were largely dispersed”

The bill on “Prevention of domestic violence, protection of victims of domestic violence and restoration of family solidarity” will be discussed this week at the NA Standing Committee on State and Legal Affairs and Human Rights. Vice-speaker of the National Assembly Arpine Hovhannisyan told about this during the event dedicated to 16-day Global Campaign against Gender Violence, adding that after the discussion the bill will be included in the agenda of the NA plenary sessions.

The vice-speaker acknowledged that she also had concerns about some formulations that are currently undergoing major reprocessing. At the moment, according to her, the project is in line with international standards and the concerns that existed in the community are largely disrupted.

As regards the definition of “restoration of solidarity in the family” instead of “violence”, the vice-speaker mentioned that this formulation does not undermine the commitment to combat violence. “If you look at the international experience, perhaps you will not find such formulations in the law, but from the contextual point of view there are provisions for recovery. They are also available in this project. I think that the draft law reflects the provisions contained in the content that will be directed to the reconciliation of solidarity in a family”, she said.

The NA vice Speaker also did not exclude that the draft law will again be amended. Asked whether the new draft was met by the demands of the traditional republicans, Arpine Hovhannisyan replied: “Everyone will have the opportunity to express his/her point of view, but there have been discussions within the RPA, and I can say that the concerns were largely dispersed. The question was the formulations that were somehow new in terms of legal terminology”.

Full text in Armenian