“The bill was long-awaited.” attorney’s assessment

WomenNet.am continues to present positions of NGOs and specialists dealing with domestic violence issues on the draft law “On Domestic Violence Prevention and the Protection of victims of Domestic Violence” and related laws drafted and recently published by the RA Ministry of Justice. This time Nvard Piliposyan, a lawyer and representative of Women’s Resource Center NGO, evaluates the provisions proposed by the project.

The lawyer first welcomes the RA Justice Initiative, noting that the draft law was long-awaited for particularly non-governmental organizations. “We have been talking about it for so many years and now we see practical steps in that direction. Part of our proposals has been taken into account during the drafting of the law, for example, principles of sacrifice, the absolute discrimination principle, which I consider positively. ”

Nvard Piliposian also welcomes the simplification of the decision-making procedure on urgent intervention. “The former designation states that when making a decision on urgent intervention, the police should apply to the court, which would have been an unnecessary loss of time, especially when the urgent intervention was a matter of urgency. With this new draft, the police can make such a decision on the spot, without the court decision, “said the lawyer. Nvard Piliposyan also positively assesses that the proposed draft amendments to the Criminal Code of Armenia suggests that criminal liability be imposed for non-compliance with the defense law. Let’s remind that the purpose of urgent intervention and defensive decision is to protect the victim of domestic violence from the violator and to prevent further violence.

The lawyer believes that the concept of “partner” should also be  in the draft law and the violence between partners should also be considered as domestic violence. “If violence between partners is not included, then the protection of a group of people is simply beyond the scope of the law. For example, violence amongst the individuals involved, between couples is still at the dating stage. We are often referred to in these cases”.

Full text in Armenian