ARMENIA'S HEAD IN THE SAND ON DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 YEREVAN 001704

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EUR/CARC, DRL, G/TIP

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV KWMN AM
SUBJECT: ARMENIA'S HEAD IN THE SAND ON DOMESTIC VIOLENCE


This cable is sensitive but unclassified. Please protect
accordingly.

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SUMMARY
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1. (SBU) During a two-day conference on domestic violence in
Yerevan, representatives of the police and the Prosecutor
General's (PG) office variously denied the existence of the
problem in Armenia, used flowery language to expound upon the
strength of the Armenian family and vigorously opposed local
activists' plans to draft domestic violence legislation.
Accurate statistics on domestic violence are unavailable in
Armenia, and work is needed to determine the extent of the
problem. END SUMMARY.


2. (SBU) Accurate statistics on domestic violence are
impossible to come by in Armenia, due mostly to societal
stigmas that discourage women from coming forward and prompt
law enforcement occasionally to adopt a "she was asking for
it" attitude toward those who do ask for help. Armine
Tanashyan of the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs'
Women's Issues Unit told conference participants that,
without accurate statistics, it would be difficult to
convince the government that domestic violence is a problem.
(NOTE: The GOAM's second National Action Plan (NAP) on
domestic violence was adopted in 2004; however, it relies
solely on international assistance, as the government has not
allocated funds for its implementation. END NOTE.) Tanashyan
told conference participants that the ministry was
considering opening shelters in 2007 with state funding, but
noted the shelters could be created and run by NGOs. (NOTE:
The Women's Rights Center NGO, which sponsored the
conference, runs a domestic violence shelter now. UMCOR and
the Hope and Help NGO currently run two separate shelters
used mostly by trafficking victims. END NOTE.)
Demonstrating the level of government impotence on the
subject, Tanashyan urged NGOs to develop awareness and legal
initiatives in 2007, so that the GOAM could report them to
the Council of Europe as proof of its work against domestic
violence.

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WE DON'T NEED NO STINKIN' LAW
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3. (SBU) Police representative Karen Mehrabyan said he
opposed the efforts of the Women's Rights Center to draft
legislation explicitly prohibiting domestic violence, noting
that the Criminal Code already criminalizes violence.
Mehrabyan said that, because domestic violence crimes
constituted a very small percentage of infractions, it was
clear that insufficient public demand existed for a domestic
violence law. Mehrabyan said Armenian law enforcement should
focus on domestic violence prevention. Drawing groans from
the crowd, the Police representative said victims often are
to blame as they provoke attacks through their appearance or
behavior.


4. (SBU) PG office representative Harutyun Sargsian then
lectured the gathering at length on the origins of Armenian
law, Armenia's Christian heritage and its innate respect for
women (based on reverence for the Virgin Mary) and the
strength of the Armenian family. "You pretend to want to
protect women's rights," Sargsian told conference
participants, "but in the end you will destroy families by
convicting the groom."

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WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE
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5. (SBU) Capping the conference, Women's Rights Center
director Susanna Vardanyan said the women's rights
community's primary goal should be to make the GOAM aware of
the domestic violence problem in the country. Vardanyan went
on to say that, in the two years since her center has run a
shelter, it has been a haven for 44 women and 58 children.
Nearly half of those, she noted, had come to the shelter in
the last seven months.


6. (SBU) Vardanyan also said the government must assist
domestic abuse victims with their post-shelter
rehabilitation. Too often, she said, shelter residents end
up returning to their abusers because they have no other
support network and cannot find jobs.

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THE EXTENT OF THE PROBLEM: UNKNOWN

YEREVAN 00001704 002 OF 002


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7. (SBU) COMMENT: Between the legacy of Soviet indifference
toward domestic violence and the Caucasus cultural attitude
toward women, we were not surprised to find such reluctance
to move forward. Anecdotal evidence suggests that domestic
abuse is a real problem in Armenia, but no one can with any
authority comment on the real extent of it. Despite the
citing of two studies at the conference -- one published on
ArmeniaNow.com claiming that 46 percent of women were victims
of domestic abuse and another from 2000 that purported that
nearly three-quarters of Armenian women had been victims --
we cannot vouch for the methodology of either of these
studies. Judging from the high percentage of self-assessed
victims in the results, we suspect that they are faulty.
Even the most scientific survey would run across the problem
of abused respondents who simply refused to tell the truth.
Vardanyan was correct in her assessment that the women's
rights community must focus on proving the extent of the
domestic violence problem; the immediate concern should be to
compile accurate data.
GODFREY