On 10 February 2016, Astghik Mirzakhanyan, Head of the Social Affairs Department of the RA Government Staff, held a session of the working group on the issues of providing equal rights and equal opportunities for women and men in the Republic of Armenia.
During the session AYLA member, member of the expert team, lawyer Mariam Zadoyan presented the suggestions targeted at increasing women’s participation in the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of power that were included in the shadow report of the legal monitoring of the implementation of the UN “Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women” (CEDAW) in Armenia, including the legal monitoring of the latest (combined 5th and 6th) report of the RA submitted to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women in 2014. The report was prepared by the “Armenian Young Lawyers Association” NGO (AYLA). Director of the “Savethechildren” project Jina Sargizova presented the suggestions included in the report published at the initiative of the RA MLSA, with support from the United Nations Children’s Fund. Afterwards, Armine Tanashyan, Deputy Head of the Department of Family, Women’s and Children’s Issues of the RA MLSA Staff, Head of the Division of Women’s Issues, discussed the question of elaborating the “2017-2021 Strategic Plan for Ensuring Equal Rights and Equal Opportunities for Women and Men in the Republic of Armenia.”
Among other decisions, it was decided to elaborate the “2016 Strategic Plan for Ensuring Equal Rights and Equal Opportunities for Women and Men in the Republic of Armenia.” The important directions that will be included in the plan were also formed at the session. They include the following suggestions submitted by AYLA:
1) The question of ensuring at least 30% specific weight for women in elective bodies;
2) Making respective amendments in the RA Electoral Code in 2 directions:
a) The question of including 1 woman in every 4 places instead of including at least 1 woman in every 5 places in the lists and having at least 1 female candidate for every successive set of 4;
b) The question of improving the rotating mechanism (in case of a female deputy’s rejection of an office or assuming another office, replace her with another woman);
3) The question of defining and ensuring specific goals for women to assume high-ranking positions in the bodies representing legislative power (e.g., appointing at least one female deputy head of every minister and marzpet).
The information was provided by the working group.
