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Situation Analysis
Situation Analysis
Domestic violence continues to be a serious social problem in Armenia. The results of the Demographic and Health Survey conducted in 2017 in Armenia showed that 4 out of 10 women victims of physical and sexual violence have never made public the fact of violence.5 The “Men and gender equality” sociological research conducted in 2016 by the United Nations Population Fund has revealed that the society in Armenia tends to justify violence against women. 27.7% of the respondents thought that “in certain cases women deserve beating”.6
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According to the annual report of the Human Rights Defender, during 2018, 707 cases of domestic violence were registered, including 673 cases of physical violence, 33 of psychological violence and 1 of economic violence. In 441 of those cases the violence was perpetrated by the husband against the wife. In 32 cases the violence was perpetrated by the wife against the husband; in 48 cases the violence was perpetrated by the parent against the son/daughter; in 48 cases the violence was perpetrated by the son/daughter against the parent; and in 116 cases other family members were cited.
According to data provided by the Police, 435 Warning Orders and 132 Emergency Intervention Orders (EIO) were issued on domestic violence cases in 2018.
During 2018, the Investigative Committee has examined 519 criminal cases of domestic violence, of which 393 criminal cases of domestic violence have undergone completed investigations. 297 of those criminal cases have been dismissed: 91 on the ground of acquittal and 206 cases not on the ground of acquittal.
5 See https://microdata.worldbank.org/index.php/catalog/2893. 6 https://armenia.unfpa.org/sites/default/files/pub-pdf/MEN%20AND%20GENDER%20 EQUALITY_Final_0.pdf
According to data provided by the Prosecution Office, during 2018, 406 criminal cases have been initiated on the same number of incidents of domestic violence. However, the real number of cases of genderbased violence is unknown because the problem remains hidden. DV Support Centers NGOs normally report a larger number of cases than those reported by state bodies. There are no publicly available detailed official statistics on the problem of gender-based violence and its impact on women and their families.
From the above data we notice that almost half of the DV cases have been dismissed by the investigators of the Investigative Committee and this indicates the lack of a victim-centered approach as well as the lack of criminalization, which leaves the abusers unaccountable for their actions and discourages women from pursuing long-term court trials.
