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    Categories: 2020

Armenia completely ratifies Lanzarote Convention

Malaysia Sun
Sept 7 2020

PanArmenian.Net
08 Sep 2020, 04:07 GMT+10

PanARMENIAN.Net – Armenia has become the 47th state to have completed the ratification of the Council of Europe's Convention on Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse ("Lanzarote Convention"), the CoE said in a statement Monday, September 7.

The Permanent Representative of Armenia to the Council of Europe, Ambassador Paruyr Hovhannisyan, deposited the instrument of ratification in the presence of Deputy Secretary General, Gabriella Battaini-Dragoni. The Convention will enter into force in Armenia on January 1, 2021.

Battaini-Dragoni said he welcomes the ratification of the Convention by Armenia. According to him, the Convention is a 'unique tool for preventing and fighting one of the most atrocious crimes, that is unfortunately still all too common in our society.'

The Lanzarote Convention has now been ratified by all Council of Europe member states except Ireland, and also by Tunisia. According to Christel de Craim, Chair of the Lanzarote Committee that monitors the implementation of the Convention, 'The Lanzarote Convention is making a big difference helping governments across Europe and beyond to work together to tackle child sexual exploitation and abuse. Ireland is the one last missing piece of the jigsaw in Europe."

According to CoE statistics, One in five children under the age of 18 in Europe is a victim of sexual violence. The Lanzarote Convention obliges states to criminalise all kinds of sexual offences against children, including online, to protect victims and to prosecute perpetrators. It also requests countries, inter alia, to ensure that the statute of limitation for initiating proceedings regarding sexual offences against children continues for a sufficient period of time to allow the start of proceedings after the victim has reached the age of majority.

Emil Lazarian: “I should like to see any power of the world destroy this race, this small tribe of unimportant people, whose wars have all been fought and lost, whose structures have crumbled, literature is unread, music is unheard, and prayers are no more answered. Go ahead, destroy Armenia . See if you can do it. Send them into the desert without bread or water. Burn their homes and churches. Then see if they will not laugh, sing and pray again. For when two of them meet anywhere in the world, see if they will not create a New Armenia.” - WS