A whopping 215 cases of domestic violence registered in Armenia in 2017

According to NGOs who deal with domestic violence issues, 5 000 cases of domestic violence were reported in Armenia in 2016.

In HY1, 733 cases of violation of women’s rights were reported in 2017 alone. Of this, 267 women turned to the crisis center.

“These are rather alarming figures,” said Kristina Petrosyan, the Chairperson of the Women’s Rights Center. As she pointed out, there are many challenges and obstacles for protection of women’s rights and prevention of domestic violence in Armenia.

“When a woman reports violence to the police, the police officer who arrives on the scene has only one instrument of coercion, which is to take a written statement from the offender, which is hardly a guarantee for a woman and doesn’t imply any punishment for the offender. Sometimes, when the police get the offender’s written statement and leave the scene, the woman and her children are subjected to even more blatant violence,” said Petrosyan.

As the Investigative Committee spokesperson told the News.am news agency, the Committee considered 215 cases involving domestic violence in the first months of 2017.

Most of those cases are related to violence committed by a husband, i..e. beating. Other cases considered by the Committee included: murder by a family member, sexual harassment of a minor, as well as cases of parents purposefully avoiding taking care for their children.

According to the Investigative Committee, guilty verdicts have already been brought against 46 individuals involved in 43 cases.