On 9 March 2016, the Embassy of the German Federal Republic to Armenia launched the fourth event in the format Art+X.
The format Art+X is the idea of the Embassy that is aimed at presenting the artworks of Armenian artists in the premises of the Embassy. Every exhibition is in itself a reference to one of the sectors of cooperation between Armenia and Germany.
This event centered around women’s rights. Its goal was to create an opportunity for communication and making connections between the actors in the fields of human rights and gender equality.
Mr. Bernhard Matthias Kiesler, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Embassy of the German Federal Republic to Armenia, launched the event by congratulating all women on International Women’s Day. Mr. Kiesler said that the Government of Germany not only attaches great importance to the women’s rights policy inside Germany, but it also works to bolster women’s rights in its foreign and development policy.
The Ambassador stressed that in 1919 Germany was one of the first countries to grant women the right to vote. However, nowadays there is a problem of gender equality in Germany as well, particularly the issue of equal pay for men and women. Gender inequality between men and women is surely much more vivid in Armenia. Apart from the unequal pay, here we have other serious problems, such as domestic violence against women, etc. Thus, the Ambassador expressed his readiness to support the Armenian Government and civil society in establishing gender equality in the country. In this regard, it is worth mentioning that the Embassy of the German Federal Republic to Armenia has funded the “Influencing the Women’s Rights Agenda” project which has recently been implemented by the Armenian Lawyers’ Association (formerly Armenian Young Lawyers Association). As a result, a comprehensive shadow report on “Monitoring of the Implementation of the UN “Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women” was prepared and submitted by the experts of the Association.
Yerevan-based artist Ms. Diana Hakobyan’s artworks were exhibited during the event. The artist thanked the German Embassy for the invitation and giving her such an amazing opportunity. Diana has previously had exhibitions in the USA, Austria, Serbia, Sweden, Italy and other countries. She is going to have another exhibition in Germany soon.
Ms. Astghik Mirzakhanyan, Secretary General of the Council on Men’s and Women’s Equality Issues of the Republic of Armenia, gave a speech at the event. She said that the Council is open for collaboration. She also attached great importance to the fact that in the present Council, as opposed to the previous one, men are included as well. In addition, she spoke about the working group on the issues of providing equal rights and equal opportunities for women and men in the Republic of Armenia that holds active discussions on women’s rights. We should mention that at the session of 10 February 2016 the recommendations of the Armenian Lawyers’ Association (those included in the above-mentioned shadow report) were presented. They were aimed at increasing women’s participation in the legislative, executive and judicial branches of power.
Representatives of embassies, state bodies and civil society participated in the event. President of the Armenian Lawyers’ Association, Coordinator of the Secretariat of the CSO Anti-Corruption Coalition Karen Zadoyan was among the attendees of the exhibition.
