Friday, December 8, 2017 Armenian Parliament Passes Bill Against Domestic Violence . Ruzanna Stepanian . Karlen Aslanian Armenia - A protest against domestic violence in Yerevan, 25Nov2017. Following a heated debate, the Armenian parliament passed on Friday a government bill which is meant to combat domestic violence in the country. The government pushed the bill through the National Assembly despite continuing resistance from some deputies representing the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (HHK). But it won over other, more senior HHK figures who openly criticized the initial version of the legislation circulated in September. The latter joined conservative fringe groups in claiming that some of the proposed legal provisions would undermine traditional "Armenian family values." The Armenian Justice Ministry responded by amending the bill drafted by it. In particular, the ministry expanded the title of the bill to emphasize that it is aimed at not only preventing domestic violence and protecting its victims but also "restoring solidarity within families." Women's groups have criticized this phrase, saying that "solidarity" is not a legal term and could be open to different interpretations by relevant authorities. Armenia - A session of the National Assembly in Yerevan, 30May2017. The final version of the bill retained other significant provisions. The Armenian police will now be required to stop violence within families threatening the lives or health of their members. What is more, the police could force a violent husband to leave his victim's home and stay away from it for up to 20 days. Armenian courts will be allowed to extend such bans to between 6 and 18 months. The law stipulates that domestic violence can be not only physical but also sexual, psychological and even economic. It makes clear that a "substantiated presumption" of such instances of violence will be sufficient grounds for police intervention. Deputy Justice Minister Vigen Kocharian stressed that this would be done by a special police unit trained to deal with such cases. Hayk Babukhanian, a controversial lawmaker from the ruling HHK, attacked this provision during Thursday's parliament debate on the bill. "Can you imagine what it could lead to?" he said, warning of police mistakes. Armenia - Gevorg Petrosian of the Tsarukian Bloc, 30Nov2017. Gevorg Petrosian of the Tsarukian Bloc, the second largest parliamentary force, echoed this concern. Petrosian claimed that the law would revive what he called a Soviet-era practice of police prosecuting men at the best of their "malicious, freedom-loving wives." "I regard it as a law on destroying peace and harmony in families," he said. Babukhanian, who publishes a newspaper known for its anti-Western commentaries, also denounced another clause that provides for non-governmental organizations' involvement in the protection of domestic violence victims. Samvel Farmanian, a more mainstream HHK parliamentarian, also spoke out against the bill. "Unfortunately, this law will not help to reduce cases of violence in families. It may actually have opposite effects," he claimed. Nevertheless, the HHK-controlled National Assembly backed the landmark law by 73 votes to 12, with 6 abstentions. All of those 12 deputies represent the Tsarukian Bloc, which claims to be in opposition to the government. None of the HHK deputies voted against the bill. Babukhanian and several other Republicans chose to boycott the vote instead. Gagik Melikian, the number two figure in the ruling party's parliamentary faction, defended the legislation, saying that it poses no threat to "traditional families." Deputies from the opposition Yelk bloc also voted for the measure. One of them, Mane Tandilian insisted later on Thursday that domestic violence is a more serious problem in Armenia than it may seem. Armenia - Mane Tandilian of the opposition Yelk bloc, 7Nov2017. "People don't talk about it because it happens in their families," Tandilian told RFE/RL's Armenian service (Azatutyun.am). "And for us, the family is taboo, a sacred environment about which we don't like saying negative things in public." The female lawmaker also said that the new powers given to the police will discourage violent conduct. A senior representative of the Armenian police advocated the passage of the bill when she spoke at parliamentary hearings in October. The police recorded 3,571 cases of domestic violence from 2012-2016. According to the Yerevan-based Women's Resource Center, more than 50 Armenian women have been beaten to death and murdered otherwise by their husbands or other relatives in the last five years. Government Reaffirms Poverty Reduction Target . Marine Khachatrian Armenia - Deputy Prime Minister Vache Gabrielian attends a parliament session in Yerevan, 20May2015. The government has reaffirmed its pledges to significantly reduce poverty in Armenia in the next five years. The government's policy program approved by parliament in June says that sustained and faster economic growth will cut poverty from 29.4 percent in 2016 to 18 percent by 2022. It also says that export promotion and better conditions for doing business will allow the Armenian economy to grow by around 5 percent annually in this five-year period. Deputy Prime Minister Vache Gabrielian called these targets realistic when he spoke to RFE/RL's Armenian service (Azatutyun.am) this week. Gabrielian stressed the importance of faster growth anticipated by Prime Minister Karen Karapetian's cabinet. He said it will benefit rural regions of the country where poverty has traditionally been higher than in Yerevan. "If you look at our [2018] budget you will see that agriculture is one of the few sectors where there will be an increase in [government] spending," said Gabrielian. "It means that we are planning measures especially in that sector, which could have the greatest impact on poverty reduction." But Vahagn Khachatrian, an economist affiliated with the opposition Armenian National Congress (HHK) dismissed the government plan as "extremely unrealistic." "These are just pieces of paper which they write up for the sake of writing and which are not put into practice," he said. Khachatrian argued that the government's 2018 budget does not call for any increases in public sector salaries, pensions and poverty benefits which were most recently raised in 2015. That, he said, means that real incomes of hundreds of thousands of Armenians will fall next year because of consumer price inflation. Under the government program, the minimum national wage, which currently stands at 55,000 drams ($114) per month, will rise by 25 percent by 2022. According to Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Tadevos Avetisian, the government will start raising it after 2018. Using a different methodology, the World Bank has recorded lower poverty rates in Armenia. According to it, just under 25 percent of Armenians lived in poverty in 2016. In a report released in May, the bank forecast that the poverty rate will fall to 22.2 percent in 2019. Armenian Budget For 2018 Approved By Parliament . Astghik Bedevian Armenia - The Prime Minister's Office and Finance Ministry buildings in Yerevan, 30Sep2017. The National Assembly approved on Friday Armenia's state budget for next year which will increase government spending by more than 7 percent but keep public sector salaries, pensions and other social benefits unchanged. The budget drafted by the Finance Ministry in late September calls for over 1.46 trillion drams ($3 billion) in total expenditure, up by around 100 billion drams from the government's 2017 spending target. It commits the government to ensuring a sharper rise in tax revenue that would reduce the budget, projected at 158 billion drams, to 2.7 percent of Gross Domestic Product. Most of the extra spending planned by the government will be channeled into various infrastructure projects. The remainder will mainly be spent on national defense. Armenia's defense spending is to rise by 18 percent to 248 billion drams ($514 million). The spending bill was backed 64 members of the 105-seat parliament representing the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) and its junior coalition partner, Dashnaktsutyun. Thirty-five other deputies affiliated with the opposition Tsarukian Bloc and Yelk alliance voted against it. The opposition minority strongly criticized the caps on social spending during parliamentary debates that preceded the vote. They said that will only increase poverty in the country in 2018. "The groundwork is not laid not only for economic growth but also economic development," said the Tsarukian Bloc's Mikael Melkumian. "Furthermore, spending on social programs, education and science is juxtaposed against capital spending." Government ministers and HHK lawmakers insisted, however, that increased spending on capital projects is a more efficient way to ease socioeconomic hardship as it would stimulate economic activity in the country. "We have promised one thing in our program: we have said that if we have economic growth we will adequately solve economic problems of our people," said Finance Minister Vartan Aramian. He indicated that the government may well raise pensions and salaries in 2019. The budgetary targets are based on government projections that economic growth in Armenia will reach 4.5 percent in 2018. The government has forecast a 4.3 percent growth rate for this year. "The growth forecast is too optimistic," said Mane Tandilian, a deputy from Yelk. "I think it will not materialize." In its latest World Economic Outlook released in October, the International Monetary Fund forecast more modest growth rates for Armenia: 3.5 percent in 2017 and 2.9 percent in 2018. The IMF had anticipated slower growth earlier. Judge Extends Jail Time For Armenian Opposition Activist . Karlen Aslanian Armenia - Opposition activist Gevorg Safarian goes on trial in Yerevan, 20May2016. An Armenian opposition activist will remain behind bars even after completing his two-year prison sentence on January 1, a court in Yerevan ruled on Friday. The activist, Gevorg Safarian, was among members of the Founding Parliament radical opposition movement who scuffled with riot police as they tried to celebrate the New Year in Yerevan's Liberty Square early on January 1, 2016. Safarian was arrested and accused of assaulting one of the officers, a charge which he and Founding Parliament rejected as politically motivated. A Yerevan court sentenced the outspoken activist to two years in prison in January this year. Safarian, Founding Parliament's arrested leader, Zhirayr Sefilian, and several other men went on a separate trial in May, accused of plotting an armed revolt and "mass disturbances." They strongly deny these charges as well. A prosecutor in that trial said on Friday that despite having spent almost two years in jail Safarian must remain under arrest pending a verdict on the Sefilian case. Safarian reacted angrily to the move, saying that President Serzh Sarkisian's administration has decided to prolong his imprisonment. "It's already clear that the judge has received an order and will keep me under arrest," he declared before leaving the courtroom. One of the defense lawyers, Tigran Yegorian, also walked out in protest. Two other attorneys, Tigran Hayrapetian and Arayik Papikian, tried unsuccessfully to have the presiding judge, Tatevik Grigorian, delay consideration of the prosecutor's petition. They said they need time to come up with their counterarguments. Grigorian ruled 20 minutes later that Safarian will not be set free on January 1. "It's clear that Gevorg Safarian is a victim of political persecution," Papikian charged afterwards. Safarian's mother present in the courtroom also condemned the judge's decision. "By punishing Gevorg they want to keep the people in fear so that they don't revolt against the authorities," she said. In a January 2016 statement, Human Rights Watch (HRW) denounced Safarian's arrest as "wholly unjustified." The New York-based watchdog said he is prosecuted for his political views and should be released from custody. Press Review "Hraparak" joins other newspapers in lamenting the government's failure to fully rebuild parts of Armenia that were devastated by the December 1988 earthquake. The paper claims that foreign assistance provided to the country in the last 29 years was enough for the complete reconstruction of at least the cities of Gyumri and Vanadzor. "Haykakan Zhamanak" hits out at a parliament deputy from the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (HHK), Hakob Hakobian, who said on Thursday that the latest hikes in the prices of some key foodstuffs in the country will not affect the poor because the latter could not afford those products anyway. Hakobian is also the chairman of the Armenian parliament committee on social affairs and health. Another HHK parliamentarian, Khosrov Harutiunian, similarly said on Thursday that low-income people have not been affected by the increased prices of meat because they have been reliant on potatoes. "We will probably surprise Khosrov Harutiunian a lot if we assert that the poor in Armenia have become so poor that they have even started consuming less potatoes," comments the paper. "This is a fact recorded by Armenia's National Statistical Service (NSS), not taken out of thin air." Meanwhile, the HHK's parliamentary leader, Vahram Baghdasarian, tells "Hayots Ashkhar" that poverty in Armenia is slowly but steadily decreasing. "That small decrease obviously doesn't satisfy us," he says. "More serious steps are needed to improve the situation. The government is now pursuing a new policy. Instead of using budgetary funds for raising salaries and pensions, it attaches greater importance to ensuring economic stability and laying the foundations for economic growth." (Tigran Avetisian) Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL Copyright (c) 2017 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc. 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. www.rferl.org