“Armenia’s salvation, the reforms in our country and the vision for future should be in the good hands of the women.” Mr. Karen Zadoyan, President of the Armenian Young Lawyers Association, presented the activities carried out in the framework of “Influencing the Women’s Rights Agenda” project.
Currently the women in our country have the same rights as the men, though with less opportunities. Karen. Zadoyan quoted India’s spiritual father’s Mahatma Gandhi’s words, “I believe that India’s salvation depends on the sacrifice and enlightenment of her women.” “Today I want to bring it to Armenia; our good future vision should be in the good hands of the women, because they are dedicated, selfless and illuminate everything around. Women should be given more opportunities, the state and public areas,” Mr. Zadoyan mentioned.
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Federal Republic of Germany to Armenia Matthias Kiesler was present at today’s event. He believes that “Women are not a minority in society, they are the majority, and if they have enough leverages, they can use those for improvement of the society, and the society would greatly benefit from the implementation of these rights,” said the Ambassador.
The “Armenian Young Lawyers Association” NGO (AYLA) implements “Influencing the Women’s Rights Agenda” Project with financial assistance of the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany.
Three directions and over several dozen activities. During the project the organization conducted a legal monitoring, carried out activities aimed at raising the legal awareness on women’s rights and their protection, conducted disputes on the gender equality issues on the local levels, organized seminars with participation of local community councils. Seminars and trainings were organized in Shirak, Lori, Gegharkunik and Syunik marzes. And information leaflets were distributed among the population.
Today, the “Alternative Shadow Report on Legal Monitoring of Implementation of the Provisions of the “UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women” (CEDAW) and the Combined fifth and sixth periodic report on Armenia of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women submitted in 2014” was presented.
Advocate Miss Mariam Zadoyan, Legal Advisor of “Influencing the Women’s Rights Agenda” Project, in her report referred to three main problems: the low level of women’s participation in national and international arenas, as well as discrimination against women in the labor sphere.
There are no achievements regarding the first two articles. “We currently have a very low level. The current legal regulations provide only 20 percent of women participation in the public sector. This is a really low indicator. We have introduced the international experience of a number of countries, which show that when the quotas were raised the women’s participation level raised consequently. Thus we recommend providing for 30-40 percent quotas in all bodies,” said the speaker. She also said that currently, most of the unemployed in Armenia are women.
Miss Syuzanna Soghomonyan, Advocate, AYLA Board Member, National Expert of the “Influencing the Women’s Rights Agenda” Project spoke about the provisions of Articles 11, 212 and 16 of the “UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.”
She mentioned that the level of women’s participation in the boards of the business companies is low. One of the main problems is the fact that the salaries despite the requirement of the law are not equal for women and men.
The advocate indicated that there are unfulfilled obligations under Article 12 as well. Specifically she noted the low level of awareness among women about the reproductive rights and reproductive health, as well as about the harmful consequences of abortions. She also noted the absence of incentives in case of the birth of girls. Armenia is among the worst countries with high rate of sex selective abortions
With regard to Article 16, the expert informed that the women’s rights are permanently violated in cases of marriage and divorce.
The working group has proposed solutions to all these problems.
The members of the working group of Draft Shadow Report are: Advocate Mr. Karen Zadoyan, AYLA President and “Influencing the Women’s Rights Agenda” Project Manager; Mr. Carl Ulbricht, the International Expert of the Project; M. David Abgaryan, Advocate, Vice President of the AYLA, National Expert of the Project; Miss Syuzanna Soghomonyan, Advocate, AYLA Board Member, National Expert of the Project; Miss Mariam Zadoyan, Advocate, Member of the AYLA, Legal Adviser of the Project; and Miss Tatevik Manukyan, Legal Adviser of the Project.
Gevorg Tosunyan
