POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS

POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS

The Republic of Armenia needs to adopt necessary and effective legislative mechanisms and ensure their adequate enforcement in order to prevent violence against women, gender-based violence and femicide as well as eradicate impunity for such violence.

The Republic of Armenia needs to ratify the Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence and bring existing legislation in line with the requirements of the Convention.

Before ratifying the Convention, amendments need to be made to the RA Criminal Code, namely:

1) Incorporating the following in the list of circumstances aggravating criminal liability and punishment as set out in RA Criminal Code Article 63, Section 1:

1.1. domestic violence;

1.2. all forms of violence based on the sex of the person;

1.3. crimes against a spouse, partner, other family member or cohabitating person;

1.4. repeated offenses or related offenses;

1.5. violence resulting in severe physical or psychological harm for the victim of the offense;

1.6. crimes carried out in the presence of a child;

1.7. crimes involving weapons or the threat of using weapons.

2) Excluding regulation provided for by Clause 7 of the RA

Criminal Code Article 62, Section 1 regarding the victim’s

“immoral behavior” in cases of gender-based violence as a condition for the crime and thus as a mitigating factor for criminal liability and punishment.

3) Supplementing the RA Criminal Code to restrict the possibility to apply amnesty in cases of gender-based violence.

In addition to amendments in the legislation, the following measures are also necessary:

1) Organizing regular and mandatory trainings for relevant specialists (judges, prosecutors, investigators, etc.) on international norms and criteria regarding femicide and gender-based violence, with a special focus on eradicating stereotypes around violence against women and excluding any professionals with stereotypes about violence against women in the law enforcement system.

2) Developing and carrying out regular programs aimed at preventing gender-based violence and raising public awareness.