Right Side Human Rights Defender NGO welcomes today, April 12, the National Assembly of Armenia’s amendments to the law “On prevention of violence in the family, protection of persons subjected to violence in the family and restoration of solidarity in the family” authored by MPs Zaruhi Batoyan, Sona Ghazaryan and Tsovinar Vardanyan and full adoption of the amended draft of the law on making additions. 

                                                           

11 of the 23 articles of the law have been amended, not counting the editorial changes, among them the existing definitions have been clarified, supplemented by the new concept of “partner”. According to the definition, “a partner is a person with whom there is a relationship, which is characterized as a love relationship, regardless of the circumstances of cohabitation or having sexual relations with each other”. The definition of partner applies to all partners, meaning that partners can belong to the same or different sexes.

In addition, the following points were revised:

• the title of the law was revised as follows: “Law on prevention of family and domestic violence and protection of persons exposed to family and domestic violence”.
• a child who witnessed the use of violence and/or suffered the negative consequences of that violence (indirect victim) is considered a victim of violence;
• the deadlines for the implementation of the urgent intervention and protective decision, their entry into force and notification have been revised;
• the definition of the conciliation procedure has been repealed;
• instead of primary medical care, the law established free and preferential medical care and services for persons subjected to domestic violence to solve the health problems of the person caused by the incident of violence;
• a requirement for accessibility of shelters for persons subjected to violence to persons with disabilities has been established.

We are reminding you that last year, with the financial support of ILGA Europe, Right Side Human Rights Defender NGO conducted the research The Situation of LGBTIQ+ Victims of Domestic Violence in Armenia, which, in the Conclusions section /page 44/, among other gaps in the law, singled out the fact that violence by a partner is not considered domestic violence. In this context, we would like to emphasize that in 2023 the incident that took place on August 20 led to tragic consequences, when Adriana, a trans woman, was brutally murdered by her partner in her apartment.

While welcoming this reform, we would like to add that there is still a need to improve some legal regulations to protect the rights of LGBTIQ+ people who have experienced domestic violence. You can familiarize yourself with the complete research The Situation of LGBTIQ+ Victims of Domestic Violence in Armenia and other recommendations of the Right Side NGO here /Recommendations: page 47/.

The package of changes of “Law on prevention of family and domestic violence and protection of persons exposed to family and domestic violence” will enter into force on July 1, 2024. 

Apr 12, 2024,  Armenia Yerevan