Human Rights Watch on situation in Armenia 

ArmInfo. Armenian authorities continued to face significant challenges in providing social security to over 100,000 ethnic Armenians displaced from  Azerbaijan's Nagorno-Karabakh region. Insecurities over the still  unresolved conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan dominated public  discourse throughout the year, the 2024 Human Rights Watch report on  Armenia reads. 

Frequent opposition protests demanding the prime minister's  resignation presented public order challenges for law enforcement,  whose use of crowd control weapons in at least one instance resulted  in dozens seeking medical help highlighting ongoing concerns over  accountability for police abuse. 

Other areas of concern include intrusive surveillance, domestic  violence, discrimination against people with disabilities, and  violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender  identity. 

In February 2024, Armenia became the 124th state party to the  International Criminal Court's founding treaty, the Rome Statute. 

Police Conduct 

Lack of effective accountability for law enforcement abuses  persisted.  

On June 12, police and protesters clashed during a protest near  parliament. Police reportedly exploded a large number of sonic  grenades in close proximity to protesters while forcefully dispersing  the crowd. Over 100 people sought medical assistance. The authorities  charged 15 protesters with hooliganism, and one person for  participation in mass riots. Trials were ongoing at time of writing.  While the authorities investigated police conduct, they had pressed  no charges at time of writing.  

Armenian law did not, at that time, specifically provide a basis for  use of the type of sonic grenades deployed on June 12. In July, the  authorities added them to the arsenal of Interior Ministry police  units but classified critical information about conditions for their  use.  

On April 15, Samvel Vardanyan, arrested after an altercation with a  ruling party MP, reported that masked men assaulted him as police  transported him to a detention facility. Police allegedly left  Vardanyan unattended shortly before his assailants appeared to abuse  him. Authorities investigated but have not charged anyone. Vardanyan  was on bail awaiting trial on hooliganism and incitement charges at  time of writing.  

Right to Privacy 

In April, the government approved legislative amendments to  "strengthen the security of public spaces," but in November, to its  credit, announced it would drop the bill. If adopted, the bill would  have required commercial entities in Yerevan to install video  surveillance cameras and provide police with 24-hour access to live  feeds and recordings on demand. This would have entailed arbitrary  and unjustified intrusions on the right to privacy. The mere  existence of video surveillance in publicly accessible areas can have  a chilling effect on the rights to privacy and to freedom of  assembly, association, and expression, among other rights.  

Human Rights Watch wrote to the authorities in August, detailing how  the proposed bill would violate rights and, in October, called on the  government to scrap the bill or send it for expert review. The  parliament initially postponed the second reading of the bill and, on  November 11, the Interior Ministry issued a statement announcing that  it would not pursue the second reading. 

Freedom of Expression and Information

In the first six months of 2024, the?Committee to Protect Freedom of  Expression?(CPFE), an Armenian group, documented 14 incidents of  physical violence against 23 journalists and cameramen by police and  private individuals during protests, and 43 incidents of other types  of pressure. 

Politicians and private businesses continued to bring defamation  cases against journalists and media outlets, dragging them into  lengthy legal battles and threatening heavy financial penalties.  A?local media advocacy group?reported that, from January through  June, media outlets faced 29 new defamation suits. In a positive  development, the group documented increasing resolution of disputes  through the media ethics watchdog rather than courts.  

Right to Equality and Nondiscrimination 

In June, the Justice Ministry presented for public discussion an  anti-discrimination bill that does not include sexual orientation,  gender identity, health status, or marital and family status as  grounds for protection.  Some officials argued that they are implied  in the draft's other personal and social grounds for protection.   However, the failure to specifically name them could lead  administrative bodies or courts to exclude them, forcing victims to  appeal rulings and creating unnecessary barriers to protection.  

  The bill also makes no provision for NGOs to bring public interest  lawsuits on behalf of discrimination victims, something long  advocated for by local groups.

Disability Rights

Armenia continues to lack a comprehensive plan to introduce  community-based services for people with psychosocial and  intellectual disabilities and continues to prioritize institutions  and institutional care.  Armenia also continues to allow courts to  deprive people with psychosocial or intellectual disabilities of  legal capacity and offers no supported decision-making mechanisms. 

In May, the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs disbanded the  independent Monitoring Group for Institutions of Children, Older  Persons, and Persons with Disabilities, which it had established by  decree in 2018. Authorities claimed that the ministry was not  authorized to establish the group. Armenian human rights  organizations saw the move as retaliation for the group's public  reporting on violations it had documented; authorities failed to  meaningfully investigate the group's findings.  

Violence against Women and Girls

Authorities?investigated?1,535 criminal domestic violence complaints  through June, a significant increase over the 484 complaints  investigated during the same period in 2023, and brought charges  against 197 people. At least four women were killed between September  2023 and September 2024, three by a family member. Three of the four  women were over 60. 

In a positive move, in April, parliament  adopted?amendments?strengthening the country's domestic violence  legislation. The amendments removed the reference to "family harmony"  as the law's primary goal and extended the definition of acts of  domestic violence to include, among other things, forced medical and  psychiatric interventions, hindering access to medical care,  virginity testing, prohibiting or hindering contacts with relatives  and friends, and various forms of exercising control over a partner. 

The?amendments?criminalized stalking as a standalone crime. They also  clarified that perpetrators of domestic violence can include  partners, former partners, and individuals in unregistered marriages,  and specified that causing a child to witness domestic violence  itself constitutes violence cognizable under the law.

For more details follow the link: 

https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2025/country-  chapters/armenia?fbclid=IwY2xjawIEG9NleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHeO1LqC-  4ed0VawkojYEzsPfJf7IDzm22w4aiQPNC6U92lLnwScVTxHkKg_aem_eXkBgaUNe2MeMUmj0ikxJw