On January 25, 2024, a roundtable discussion was held under the title “The Situation of LGBTIQ+ Victims of Domestic Violence in Armenia” organized by Right Side Human Rights Defender NGO during which “Situation of LGBTIQ+ victims of domestic violence” research and the organization’s 2023 Legal report were presented.
The discussion was attended by representatives of Democracy International, the U.S Embassy, the British Embassy, the UNAIDS Armenia, the Embassy of Switzerland, the European Union to Armenia, the RA Ministry of Justice, The Kvinna till Kvinna Foundation, Pink Human Rights Defender NGO, Women’s Fund Armenia, DiverCity Social Cultural, Human Rights defender NGO, Sexual Assault Crisis Center, Women’s Resource Center Armenia, Women’s Agenda, Global Foundation for Trans Rights Protection, Real World, Real People NGO, as well as Trans LGBIQ people, supporters and family members of LGBTIQ people.
The meeting was officially inaugurated by Lilit Martirosyan, the Founder, and President of the Right Side Human Rights Defender NGO, who on behalf of the NGO and herself greeted all the attendees, expressed gratitude to colleagues and supporters, and Trans LGBIQ and sex workers for attending the discussion and for the continuous support in various rights protection processes.
Then Lilit Martirosyan gave the floor to the organization’s lawyers Artur Margaryan and Sona Harutyunyan, who presented the results of the organization’s “The Situation of LGBTIQ+ Victims of Domestic Violence in Armenia” research, which was carried out during the year of 2023 with the financial support of ILGA Europe, and aimed to highlight and analyze the prevalence of domestic violence cases among LGBTIQ+ people in Armenia, their forms of expression, and types, which allows for assessing the prevalence of violence against LGBTIQ+ people according to types of violence, frequency, regularity, as well as to identify the motives and motivation of the abuser’s use of violence, the physical, emotional and psychological consequences of violence on the victims of violence. The lawyers also presented a list of recommendations based on the research results, which were addressed to the RA National Assembly, RA National Assembly deputies, factions and the RA Government, the RA Police, and the RA Human Rights Defender. At the end of the research, the attendees were involved in a question-and-answer and discussion phase, in which the representative of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Armenia, representatives of organizations operating in the sector, as well as LGBTIQ activists took part, emphasizing that only with joint efforts is it possible to solve the problems of Trans LGBIQ people.
Summarizing the meeting, Lilit Matirosyan mentioned that January 25 is a special day for Right Side Human Rights Defender NGO because it marks the 8th anniversary of the organization’s foundation, and during these years the organization’s activities have been aimed at promoting social involvement of members of the Trans LGBIQ and sex worker communities in all areas of life, human rights protection, health and well-being of community members. She thanked all diplomatic representatives, representatives of the organizations operating in the sector, the Trans LGBIQ community, and supporters for standing by the organization, fighting for equality and justice, and invited all to join the celebration of the 8th anniversary of Right Side Human Rights Defender NGO.
The round table meeting was held with the financial support of ILGA Europe.
January 26, 2024 Armenia, Yerevan
