MEMBERS OF PACE COMMITTEE ON EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES FOR WOMEN AND MEN IN PARLIAMENT

National Assembly of RA, Armenia
April 19 2006

On April 17 Tigran Torosyan, Head of NA delegation in PACE, NA Vice
President, received Vera Oskina, Rapporteur of the Committee on Equal
Opportunities for Women and Men and Jannick Devaux, PACE Secretariat
officer, who were on an official visit in Yerevan.

Mrs. Oskina noted that she is preparing a report on the women’s
state in Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan. She was interested in the
women’s role in the political life of Armenia, involvement in the
local self-governance, the issues of trafficking and family violence
and demography in these spheres.

Mr. Torosyan noted that the trafficking and family violence are
extraordinary phenomena contradicting Armenian traditions and are
of little percentage. Touching upon the women’s involvement in the
political processes, the NA Vice President noted that the women
of Armenia prefer to be more involved in public than in political
activity: about 99% of women are heads of public organizations.

Regarding the allocation of 25% to the women in the electoral lists,
in Mr. Torosyan’s opinion, “the positive” discrimination is also
unacceptable, and we should not promote the women’s political
involvement with unnatural steps.

During the meeting other issues of bilateral interest were discussed.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress