ArmInfo.At a cabinet meeting on December 12, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan asked Justice Minister Rustam Badasyan whether the Armenian government received an international legal assessment of the Istanbul Convention. "After all, who does this convention protect from violence?" asked the Prime Minister.
According to the minister, the agency received a legal opinion from the Venice Commission, all speculations are inappropriate.
"Is it not a convention that violence against women and children cannot be used?", Pashinyan tried to clarify. In response, the head of the Ministry of Justice noted that the document is aimed at preventing not only domestic violence, but a wider circle of persons. "The Council of Europe body has nothing to do with the legalization of same-sex marriages, the adoption of children, etc.," Ristam Badasyan said. It should be noted that in Armenia for the 10 months of 2019, 2756 cases of domestic violence were registered, among 1760 rapists 10% of women.
In January 2018, Armenia signed the Istanbul Convention ("Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence"). However, this convention has not yet been sent to the country's parliament for ratification. The Istanbul Convention (or the "Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence") was signed in 2011 in Istanbul (Turkey). Of the 47 member states of the Council of Europe, 34 have ratified the Convention, 11 have signed.
In Armenia, many conservative political forces, as well as the Armenian Apostolic Church, oppose this convention, which consider it to be contrary to the national, family and traditional principles of the Armenian people.
Earlier, the RA Ministry of Justice sent the Istanbul Convention to the Venice Commission in order to study its compliance with the norms of the country's legislation.