ARMENIA: NEW REPORT EXPOSES SEXUAL AND DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN
Amnesty International UK
ID=17945
Nov 13 2008
UK
"A woman is like wool; the more you beat her, the softer she’ll be’
-Armenian saying
A new report from Amnesty International today exposes rape, domestic
violence and sexual harassment against women in Armenia.
Women told Amnesty International how they were beaten by their husbands
or other family members; how they were raped and verbally abused;
how they were controlled and prevented from meeting their parents and
friends. Over a quarter of women in Armenia have been hit or beaten
by a family member and about two thirds have experienced psychological
abuse, yet the state fails to prevent, investigate and punish violence
against women, says the report.
Forty-five-year old G.M. lost her sight after years of violence:
‘Anyone who felt like it could beat me. If something was wrong in
the house, I was the one who got the blame. They pounced on me and
beat me – all together.’ Another woman, G.L. tried in vain to escape
a violent relationship: ‘Several times I wanted to walk out, but I
have got nowhere to go. I have two young children, and if I leave he
will not let me back. I want a divorce, but he does not.’
Amnesty International UK Director Kate Allen said:
‘Women in Armenia suffer disproportionately from violence and abuse
at home and at work, but this is seldom understood as a violation of
their basic human rights.
‘A real sea-change in attitudes right across Armenia is needed –
from the criminal justice system to the home – to ensure that women
can live in safety and dignity.
‘Right now the preservation of the family unit comes at the expense
of women’s rights, their safety and even their lives.’
Amnesty International’s report No pride in silence: Countering violence
in the family in Armenia, looks at individual case studies and examines
the background to these pervasive abuses – that in Armenia, social
attitudes among both men and women largely accept and even vindicate
violence against women. Other hurdles include the stigmatisation of
rape victims, reluctance by police to investigate domestic violence
cases and a lack of shelters and support for abused women.
The Armenian authorities are failing to provide women with options to
leave violent relationships by not putting into place a functional
system of either initial protection against violence in the family
or longer term support through employment and housing.
Amnesty is urging the Armenian authorities to combat violence against
women in all its forms through the implementation of legislative,
institutional and public educational strategies and more specifically
to: – Criminalise domestic violence through the adoption of a
specific law; – Implement a cross-agency approach including police,
health workers, the judiciary, shelters and crisis centres and
non-governmental organizations; – Increase the public awareness of
violence against women as a widespread criminal offence and human
rights violation.
The report is part of a series of publications issued within
Amnesty’s global ‘Stop Violence against Women’ campaign, which was
launched in March 2004. The campaign urges governments to comply with
their obligation under international human rights law to counter
discrimination against women and girls. Violence against women is
a global phenomenon affecting in one form or another nearly one
in three women and Amnesty has exposed violence against women in
countries from the USA, France and Spain to Russia, Georgia, Belarus,
Ukraine and Turkey.