`Violence against women is a bad tradition`: Pashinyan

ArmInfo. RA Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan received representatives of non-governmental  organizations that are members of the Coalition to End Violence Against Women.

As the Premier's press service reports, PM Pashinyan  welcomed the  attendees and highlighted the discussion of the issue of violence  against women. Nikol Pashinyan emphasized that the issue is important  for the Armenian government for several reasons, where the order of  listing should not be perceived as a criterion for importance. 

"First, violence is against our ideology, that is, our ideology is  against violence. Second, the level and state of human rights  protection in general is a very important political priority for our  government. I must emphasize that this topic sometimes receives  additional contexts:  political, even geopolitical and international  context, each of which has its own explanation and justification.

But I want to honestly say that for us the issue gains special  importance in the following logic, without belittling all other  nuances that may exist. In my final speech during the discussions of  the 2024 state budget, I emphasized that the state interest of the  Republic of Armenia, in my and our perception, is the economic  development of Armenia and development in general.

Recently, the Statistical Committee of Armenia published statistics  on the composition of the population of Armenia. We see that 53  percent of the population in Armenia are women, 47 percent are men,  as well as 54 percent of labor resources are women, 46 percent are  men. In this regard, our analysis is as follows. In order to ensure  the normal development of Armenia, we must, inter alia, create  conditions so that the potential of women has a full opportunity to  express itself in economic, public and all possible directions, to be  involved in the development of the state. Providing such conditions  is essential from the point of view of further development of our  country.

Of course, I do not want to belittle the other layers and sub-layers  that are often obvious and often discussed. My experience, in the  sense that I have dealt with the issue in a number of cases, while  seeing all kinds of reports, documents and specific situations, if I  look at the issue from this point of view, I must record that  violence against women is one of the key obstacles in ensuring their  economic and public activity. This is also the reason why I wanted to  meet today with such a representative group, firstly to emphasize the  importance of the topic, then also this point of view and the context  with the understanding that, in my opinion, sometimes this issue is  overlooked or not emphasized," said the Prime Minister.

According to Nikol Pashinyan, in many cases, an attempt is made to  give the topic a completely different context, trying to justify that  our traditional values and traditional ideas are being attacked by  the discussions of this topic. "But I must also say that I strongly  disagree with such understandings and perceptions, because even if  someone thinks that violence, including in the family and everyday  life, is an important tradition, then it should be noted that it is a  bad tradition and should be overcome.

I will be happy to listen to your observations and record what result  or conclusion you expect from today's meeting," said the Prime  Minister.

During the meeting, issues related to the prevention of violence  against women, the steps taken by the Armenian government in that  direction, the already implemented legislative changes, women's  problems and possible steps to solve them were discussed.  The  members of the coalition emphasized the improvements in the  prevention of violence against women in recent years and emphasized  their continuity. Further formats of interaction with civil society  were also discussed.