Non-official
translation
2004-2010
Republic of Armenia National Action Plan on
Improving
the Status of Women and Enhancing Their Role in
Society
The
Republic of Armenia National Action Plan on Improving the Status of Women and
Enhancing Their Role in Society (hereinafter, the “Action Plan”) defines the
principles, priorities, and key targets of the public policy that is pursued to
address women’s issues in the Republic of Armenia. The Action Plan is based on the relevant
provisions of the Republic of Armenia Constitution and is targeted at the
fulfillment of the UN Convention on the Discrimination of All Forms of Violence
against Women, the recommendations of the Fourth Beijing Conference (1995), the
documents of the Council of Europe Committee for the Equality of Rights of Women
and Men, the UN Millennium Declaration requirements, and commitments of the
Republic of Armenia under other international instruments.
The Action
Plan will facilitate equality of rights and opportunities for women and men, as
a prerequisite to shape a democratic, social, and legal state and civil
society.
The
measures contemplated under the Action Plan will also be helpful in addressing
social and economic problems of women, which will, in turn, facilitate in
overcoming poverty in the frameworks of the Poverty Reduction Strategy
Paper.
The Action
Plan conceives women as individuals, women, and mothers, and pursues the
approach of not countering family with the professional or social and political
activities of a woman, but rather, one of developing conditions for the
fully-fledged realization of women’s potential in both employment and
families.
In the
light of those peculiarities of women and men, which are driven by nature, and
viewing their differences as complementary features supporting harmony in social
life, the aim of the Action Plan is to maintain such features in the course of
implementing its measures.
Although
Armenia is currently number 76 in terms of the Human Development Index, and
number 62 in terms of the Gender Development Index, which illustrates that there
is somewhat of an equality between women and men, one can claim, on the basis of
historical facts, that discrimination against women is not a phenomenon embedded
in our national mentality and philosophy, but rather, that the signs of
inequality [that may be found] are due to the present social-economic situation
and the low level of civilization in some groups of
society.
Therefore,
some of the measures contemplated in the Action Plan emphasize awareness-raising
undertakings, as well as efforts targeted at enhancing the overall level of
development in society.
The Action
Plan comprises 8 sections:
·
Ensuring
equal rights and opportunities for women and men in decision-making and in the
social and political spheres;
·
Improving
the Social and Economic Condition of Women;
·
Education
Sector;
·
Improving
the Health Condition of Women;
·
Eliminating
Violence against Women;
·
Elimination
of trafficking of women and girls;
·
Role of
the Mass Media and Cultural Institutions in Reporting on Women’s Issues and
Building a Female Role Model; and,
·
Institutional
Reforms.
Each
section is made up of the following parts: Situation Analysis, an overview of
Challenges, Strategies, and Measures to Address the
issues.
The
implementation Action Plan will be pursued in close cooperation with
international and non-governmental organizations.
Section
1
Ensuring
equal rights and opportunities for women and men in decision-making and in the
social and political spheres
Situation
Analysis
In 1993,
Armenia ratified the UN Convention on the Discrimination of All Forms of
Violence against Women.
According
to Article 7 of the Convention, the authorities undertook to carry out practical
measures to ensure equal participation of women and men in the development and
implementation of public policies.
The ratification of the Convention was followed by the adoption of a
number of other instruments, but there has still been no significant progress in
this area.
Here are
some of the most recent facts: after the parliamentary elections that took place
in the Republic of Armenia in 2003, women currently make up 4.1% of the members
of the National Assembly. One of
the 6 female parliamentarians was elected through the majoritarian lists, and
the other five—through the party-proportionate scheme. Female candidates made up 4% of the
majoritarian lists, and 14.1% of the party-proportionate lists. One can conclude from the numbers that
the small percentage of women in the National Assembly of the Republic of
Armenia is partially due to their limited participation in elections. One of the female parliamentarians
chairs a standing committee.
The fact
that women are less than 20% of the Parliament of the country complicates the
adoption of socially favorable laws; furthermore, the international experience
has shown that without the use of temporary radical means (such as gender
quotas), it will be difficult to attain equality of women and men in political
activities.
The number
of women in executive leadership positions is limited, too—only one female
minister and five female deputy ministers.
A similar
situation is to be found in territorial administration and local self-government
bodies. In the local elections of
2002, only eight of the 932 female candidates were
elected.
Equal
participation of women and men takes place at the middle level of
administration, as well as in the international organizations that operate in
Armenia.
The number
of women exceeds that of men in the spheres of education, health care, culture,
and services.
Women
mostly exercise their decision-making rights in the non-governmental
organizations’ sector, and the role of women and women’s organizations in the
construction of a democratic, civil, and sustainable society is increasing. Women can do a lot in both sustaining
peace and protecting the environment.
Resolution
1325 adopted by the UN Security Council in 2000 is one of the essential
instruments concerned with the new millennium, which reflects both the necessity
of women actively participating in the peace process and at all levels of
decision-making aimed at conflict prevention and resolution, and the need to
protect rights of women and girls during wars and in the aftermath of
conflicts.
The UN
Security Council calls upon the Member States to pursue the safeguarding of
principles of international law on the rights of women and girls during armed
conflicts, to introduce gender mainstreaming in the adoption and enforcement of
reconciliation treaties, and to ensure the fully-fledged participation of women
in the peace process.
A similar
approach should be adopted in relation to environmental
protection.
It is
necessary to ensure the protection of the environment, because it is important
for both the preservation of humankind and the reproductive health of
women. Concurrently, it is
necessary to enhance the participation of women and women’s organization in this
process.
At
present, the environmental situation in Armenia is alarming. Cities lack sufficient development of
residential areas, drinking water, anti-epidemiological services, and
heating. Green areas have been
shrinking in cities and, especially, in Yerevan. Despite that Yerevan occupies 22,700
hectares, its green areas are about 2,400 hectares, which, under European
standards, is 10-fold below the threshold for a city of 1.1 million. This, indeed, is not only a problem of
urban development, environment, and culture, but also, a social
one.
Challenges
· Inadequate
involvement of women in decision-making and
politics.
· Unequal
participation of women and men in various spheres of social and political
life.
Strategy
1.1. Ensuring the fulfillment of the Convention on
the Discrimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women and the key
recommendations of the Beijing Conference.
1.2. Ensuring oversight of the enforcement of
respective legal acts.
1.3. Ensuring the equal participation of women and
men in the political and social life of the
country.
1.4. Ensuring the gender awareness of women, their
legal awareness, and their empowerment.
1.5. Ensuring the active participation of women in
the process of democratization and the development of civil
society.
Measures
1.1.1
Conducting gender expertise of the RoA legislation and if necessary work
out suggestion on changes and amendment to be made in corresponding legal
acts.
1.1.2. Review the
international instruments of the RoA, which ensure equal rights and
opportunities for women and men, in order to harmonize the RoA legislation with
the international standards.
1.2.1. Produce periodic reports on the
fulfillment of the provisions of the UN Convention on the Discrimination of All
Forms of Discrimination against Women and the recommendations to be found in the
documents of the Council of Europe Committee on Equality of the Rights of Women
and Men.
1.3.1.
Draft recommendations on the introduction of temporary quotas to ensure the
fully-fledged participation of women in the decision-making process in the
legislative, executive, and judicial branches and in local
government.
1.3.2. Submit for
ratification the UN Convention on the Political Rights of
Women.
1.3.3. To discuss
and to submit for ratification the [December 22 2000] Protocol to the UN
Convention on the Discrimination of All Forms of Discrimination against
Women.
1.3.4. To conduct
surveys and to produce statistical data on the participation of women and men in
social and political life.
1.4.1. To
organize training courses for women in leadership and self-empowerment
techniques.
1.4.2. To develop
and implement special educational and continuous training programs to ensure the
participation of women in governance and public and political sector
activities.
1.5.1. To
develop recommendations on intensifying the effective participation of women in
the peace-making process.
1.6.1. To
devise recommendations on the development and implementation of environmental
and nature protection projects and to intensify the participation of women in
these processes.
Section
2
Improving
the Social and Economic Condition of Women
Situation
Analysis
Equal rights of
women and men to operate in all the sectors of the Armenian economy are
enshrined in the legislation of the Republic of
Armenia.
However, the
financial and business activities of women are currently restricted mainly to
retail trade and small business, especially in the service
sector.
Improving the
social-economic status of women not only is an economic challenge, but also
relates to the possibility of enhancing the activities of women in the political
field.
The introduction
of a new market system brought about various structural changes in the country,
which resulted in many enterprises and organizations being either shut down or
reorganized; the number of jobs shrunk enormously, the demand for certain
professions fell, unemployment grew, and migration accelerated. As a consequence of all of this, a large
number of people found themselves in dire
straits.
Despite that unemployment is common problem for both men and women,
statistics have confirmed that regardless of the changes in the annual number of
the unemployed, women have continuously taken up a larger share of this
group. As of January 1 2002, women
were 66% of the total number of the registered unemployed. Unemployment in women is 13.5%, which is
greater than twice the level of unemployment in men
(6.4%).
A gender analysis of officially-reported unemployment for 1995-2001
illustrates that the majority of the unemployed in Armenia are women. Furthermore, the level of unemployment
in women grew by 3.5% in 2002 compared to
1995.
Studies have confirmed that the number of women who have been granted the
status of the unemployed is greater in cities than elsewhere. Household surveys have shown that
families with many children and families led by women are the ones that suffer
rather harsh social-economic conditions.
Thus, the new circumstances and needs emerging in the labor market and
the depleted infrastructure have rendered women less competitive than
before.
Moreover, the virtual unfeasibility of combining family duties with
professional ones deprives women of a sound career record, which later
negatively affects the amount of their
pension.
Development of small and medium businesses in the country is still
underway; there is a shortage of favorable conditions and a conducive tax
environment for doing business. All
of this by and large hinders the enhancement of economic opportunities for
women. Back in 1997, research
conducted by the Republic of Armenia Ministry of Industry and Trade demonstrated
that women were 17.2% of all those doing business in Yerevan, and 3.1% of those
doing business in the regions (the “marzes”), and that there were far fewer
women employed in the manufacturing sector here (1.9%), while the activities of
female entrepreneurs was mostly in trade and
services.
Nevertheless, economic advancement of women is a necessary prerequisite
for their empowerment in not only the economic, but also the political life of
the country.
The reduction of the number of women in the labor market was furthered by
the depletion of the pre-school and extra-school education facilities,
especially the decline in the number of pre-school institutions, as well as the
shrinking scope of enterprises engaged in utilities and services: during the
period from 1996 to 2001, the number of pre-school institutions fell from 978 to
712, of which 135 were idle in 2001.
One should also note that pre-school institutions became subordinate to
the local communities, which do not have sufficient financial capacity to
support the normal operation of pre-school institutions. Deterioration has been reported in not
only the capacity, but also the inclusion and accessibility of the pre-school
system.
A large number of children from impoverished families have ended up in
orphanages and boarding schools.
The decline in the number of pre-school institutions also resulted in
lay-offs of staff, most of whom were women.
The food and
agriculture sectors are pivotal to the economy of Armenia. According to the findings of the 2001
population census, 35.7% of the population of the country resides in rural
areas. 45.1% of the population are
involved in some form of agriculture, of whom almost half are women, but the
number of women in agriculture tends to increase. One of the problems in this area is the
low level of automation in agricultural work, which results in most of the
activities being performed manually, which, in turn, cannot but affect the
overall and reproductive health of women.
Over the recent
years, most of the credit programs targeted at the provision of economic
assistance to women in Armenia have not had sufficiently concessional terms,
and, therefore, do not facilitate the economic advancement of women. In some of the schemes, the lending
interest rates are so high that women cannot develop their business and, in the
best case, hardly cover the subsistence of the
family.
Surveys conducted
by the RoA Department of Migration and Refugees and the National Statistics
Service in 2001 and 2002 have illustrated that about 1/3 of those who leave the
country are labor migrants. The
migration is driven by social-economic causes, the lack of any prospects to find
professional employment, the low level of income, and the skepticism about the
future. About 2/3 of them are
women. Furthermore, women
constitute 53% of those who leave for permanent
residence.
Among women, one
of the vulnerable groups is that of refugees, who make up 54% of the total
number of refugees, and almost half of them are elderly
women.
The refugees had
their education in Russian, and due to objective reasons, do not fully master
the Armenian language. Furthermore,
most of them used to leave in cities, but once in Armenia, ended up being placed
predominantly in rural areas, in which they are less likely to find employment;
besides, most of the employment opportunities in rural areas have to do with
agriculture. These circumstances
further complicate their integration
process.
Despite that
female military servants need special attention, their social-economic
conditions are yet to be studied to a sufficient
degree.
The new economic
system posed obstacles before women active in arts and science. Clearly, they lack the knowledge and
skills necessary to be effective in this economic
system.
Challenges
Strategy
2.1. Gearing
social policies towards improving the economic status of
women.
2.2. Gearing
social policies towards encouraging an increase in the birth
rate.
2.3. Settle the
use of the labor force of women by facilitating a reduction in the number of
unemployed women
2.4. Facilitating
an expansion of business activities of
women.
2.5. Enhancing
women’s participation in the development of rural communities, and ensuring new
jobs for women in rural areas.
2.6. Enhancing
the knowledge and skills of women artists and scientists to operate efficiently
under the new economic system.
2.7. Developing
national arts and crafts that traditionally generate employment for
women.
Measures
2.1.1. To
mobilize and to consolidate statistics on poverty in women, and to reveal the
root causes and consequences of such poverty.
2.1.2. To develop and carry out special projects of employment and health care support for refugee women and their families.
2.2.1. To draft a Law on the Social Protection of Families with Many Children.
2.2.2. To enhance the public benefit scheme to prioritize the need for assisting families with children and vulnerable categories of women.
2.3.1. To develop and carry out projects ensuring employment for women in the frameworks of population employment programs.
2.3.2. To develop
arrangements ensuring continuity of professional training for women in order to
enhance their competitiveness in the labor market to support the combining of
employment with family duties.
2.3.3. To
rehabilitate and to develop rural and urban networks of community-based day-care
centers for children and pre-school
institutions.
2.4.1. In the
frameworks of the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper, to carry out projects
targeted at reducing poverty in women, including, especially, concessional
micro-credits to facilitate the develop of small and medium-sized women-owned
and controlled businesses.
2.4.2. To
mobilize resources of international donor organizations to develop small
business and to organize special business courses for
women.
2.5.1. To conduct researches aimed to identify the new job establishment and crafts work opportunities for women in rural areas.
2.5.2. To carry out projects aimed at developing home-based work and crafts work in rural areas and promoting the participation of women in the social-economic development of rural areas
2.5.3. In the frameworks of the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper, to carry out projects targeted at reducing poverty in rural women, especially by means of concessionary micro-credit projects.
2.6.1. To run
business training courses for women who are active in arts and science in order
to equip them with knowledge and skills necessary to be effective in the
market.
2.7.1. To carry
out specific projects targeted at developing arts and crafts that have
traditionally generated employment for
women.
Section
3
Education
Sector
Situation
Analysis
An analysis of
statistics illustrates that there is no gender discrimination in terms of
inclusion at various levels of education in
Armenia.
It is also
noteworthy that in Armenia, traditions of equal inclusion of girls and boys in
primary education date back to the 19th
century.
In gender terms,
inclusion at various levels of education looks as
follows.
In 2002, 44,849
children attended pre-school institutions, of which 22,488 were girls. Of the total number of children in the
country, 18.5% attended pre-school
institutions.
In basic
education (grades 1 to 8), the number of students was 424,372, of whom 208,029
were girls: the slight difference in this sector is mainly due to demographic
factors. However, these
proportions, especially in high school, have recently been shifting towards
becoming more favorable for girls.
In the 2002/2003 academic year, girls were 51.8% of the total number of
high school students in the country.
The number of
women in vocational education is now somewhat higher than that of men. Statistics for the 2002/2003 academic
year have illustrated that the differences are rather apparent in secondary
vocational education institutions, in which women were 66% of all students,
compared to only 34% of men.
The percentage
share of women in higher academic institutions (49.7%) was due to the fact that
more women attended private institutions.
As for the small
share of women (34.2%) in post-university education, it is due to the large
number of men (65.9%) attending
post-graduate schools, although the number of women in graduate school exceeded
that of men (women were about 51.9%).
At present, there
are 28 doctorate students, of whom 27.4% are
women.
There is,
however, a different situation insofar as faculty is
concerned.
In the pre-school
education sector, the total number of pedagogues was 5,397, of whom 5,394 were
women. Of the 636 leadership
positions, three were occupied by men.
In the 2002/2003
academic year, about 54,276 pedagogues worked in public schools, of which 83.4%
were women.
There are 4,157
faculty members in public secondary vocational academic institutions, of which
3,044 are women. In higher academic
institutions, 3,906 of the 8,495 faculty members are
women.
As of yearend
2002, the number of researchers was 6,737, of whom 476 were science doctors, of
whom 83 were women. 1,758 of the
6,737 were candidates to the science doctor degree, of whom 688 were
women.
The
aforementioned numbers show that there is gender disproportion in the corps of
education sector pedagogues. Public
education institutions, in particular, have been feminizing—83.4% of the
teachers are female, and this does not support the upbringing of fully-fledged
citizens. Due to the low salaries,
the poor professional image, and the inadequacy of social guarantees
professional educators have been quitting the system. It’s also should be
mentioned that a big number of male educators left their jobs. In 2001, compared to 1991, the salaries
of teachers had declined about 14-fold.
As for
professional education institutions, there is somewhat of a balance in this
area.
Innovation and
harmonization of the education contents with the new requirements of society is
a topical concern. The slow process of innovation of the educational contents
does not facilitate the spiritual, economic and social progress of democratic
society, as well as it doesn’t support the development of both civil society and
rule of law. The units of educating the issues on establishment and development
of life skills, awareness of citizens’ rights and gender inssues should be
enlarged. It is also important to
educate the students with the healthy life-style and preparation for the future
family life.
Certainly in this
case the collaboration with parents and their help in raising and developing
children are also essential. Within the recent years the number of pre-school
institutions and children attending them has considerably decreased. As a
result, family became the main responsible body for raising and developing
children that do not attend pre-school institutions. Therefore, parents need
methodological guidance to improve the ways in which children are raised in the
family.
Challenges
·
Inadequate social protection of pedagogues and the
outflow of male educators from the system.
·
Insufficient awareness of gender approaches among
participants of education process.
·
Slow pace of updating education
content.
·
Insufficient awareness of parents in pre-school child
care and upbringing issues.
Strategy
3.1.
Ensuring social protection of pedagogues.
3.2.
Ensuring public awareness on gender issues.
3.3.
Incorporating new education programs and methods in
education.
3.4.
Ensuring awareness of parents in childcare and education
issuese
Measures
3.1.2. Integration of the pedagogues in the social life reduced in the result of the implementation of educational reforms.
3.3.1. To develop and invest of the
training course “Healthy way of living” in secondary schools, publish appropriate
literature.
3.4.1. To
organize a 15-day training course on child care and education for parents of
children who have pre-school children, publish relevant
materials.
Section
4
Improving the
Health Condition of Women
Situation
Analysis
The social
and economic changes of the last decade left their trace on the health care
sector, among others, which gave rise to numerous problems. Health care became unaffordable for the
majority of the population, and the quality of health care in hospitals and
policlinics deteriorated.
Social
disease, such as the tuberculosis and sexually-transmitted infections,
throve. Uncontrolled cases of
oncological and cardio-vascular ailment became more frequent than before. The use of homogenous and scarce food,
lacking the right balance of proteins, vitamins, and microelements, resulted in
malnutrition of pregnant women, a 10-fold increase in the number of early and
late anemia cases, and an increase in the number of under-weight
newborns.
Furthermore,
reproductive health of women deteriorated, as illustrated by a key indicator
such as the maternal mortality index.
Over the last few years, this index has been fluctuating around 40 per
100,000 live-borns, and so far, does not show any signs of a decline
trend.
Despite
that the Republic of Armenia Demographic and Health Survey (ADHS) for 2000
claimed that 61% of the fertility-age women used contraceptives, reliable modern
contraceptives were used only by 22%.
As a consequence of this, abortion continues to be applied as a measure
of fertility regulation.
The number
of abortions has tended to fall over the last few years, due to the improvement
of family planning services in the frameworks of the National Reproductive
Health Program. In 1995, abortion
numbers stood at 623 and 30.5 per 1,000 deliveries and 1,000 fertility-age
women, respectively; 562 and 24.3 in 1997; and 305 and 8.4 in
2002.
Most of
the maternal mortality cases have been caused by the deteriorating health
conditions of women, as well as the lack of comprehensive prenatal surveillance,
early detection of anomalies, and timely medical check-ups and appropriate
pregnancy interruption for women in the risk group.
The
demographic situation is alarming, too.
Over the last decade, the birth rate has halved, and natural growth has
declined 8-fold. Among the causes
are not only migration and social difficulties, but also the ensuing changes in
the reproductive behavior of women.
The fertility ratio has fallen from 2.6 to 1.1. The decline in the birth rate has been
furthered by infertility, which currently stands at 31.9%.
Any
overview of the health sector would be incomplete, unless one considered the
problem of children born with congenital defects.
In this
respect, the ratio of congenital defects was around 18.7-18.0 (per 1,000
live-borns) during the period from 1998 to 2002.
Challenges
·
High rates of mother and child morbidity and
mortality.
·
Deterioration of women’s reproductive health and a
decline in the natural growth of the birth
rate.
·
High share (60%) of the perinatal component in infant
mortality, and its increase trend.
·
An increase in the prevalence of sexually transmitted
disease.
·
Lack of HIV
screening.
·
An increase in oncological disease of female
organs.
·
Limited use of contemporary reliable
contraceptives.
·
An increase in the number of infants born with
pathologies.
Strategy
4.1.
Provision of
free-of-charge medical care to women.
4.2.
Maintaining the system of
public delivery homes and improving the conditions and capacity
thereof.
4.3.
Increasing access to
health care by means of broadening the scope of government-subsidized
services.
4.4.
Facilitating an
improvement in the health and, especially, reproductive health of women
(reducing morbidity by some 30%).
4.5.
Facilitating a reduction
of mother and child mortality (to 50% and 30% by 2015, respectively), reducing
infertility, especially secondary infertility (by at least 30%), and reducing
the number of pathological births.
4.1.1.
To increase the volume of
government-subsidized free-of-charge health
care.
4.2.1.
To undertake additional
measures to protect motherhood and reproductive health in the frameworks of
specific projects of the Government.
4.3.1.
To organize mandatory
regular examination of women in clinics and “traveling”
ambulatories.
4.3.2.
To ensure continuous
oversight of the nutrition status of pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers, and
children, and to carry out health food provision
programs.
4.4.1.
To develop and implement a
project of targeted scientific research in obstetrics and reproductive
health.
4.5.1.
To introduce
state-of-the-art technology, including genetic surveillance in the early phase
of fetal development to detect anomalies.
4.5.2.
To ensure HIV screening of
pregnant women.
4.5.3.
To enhance the
professional knowledge and skills of health care
personnel.
4.5.4.
To raise the health
awareness of the public by means of the mass
media.
Section
5
Violence against women is not a new problem. It has always been a central point of
concern for the international community.
Women are weaker and more vulnerable in terms of their ability to protect
themselves, and, therefore, often turn into victims of violent
conflicts.
Violence is expressed in different forms: physical, moral-psychological,
domestic, sexual, social-economic, social-cultural, and the like. There are different causes of
violence.
At present, there are cases of sexual and physical violence against women
and girls, and restrictions of their rights and freedoms by means of compulsion,
which require some attention.
Surveys and studies conducted by the Republic of Armenia Police during
the 2001-2003 period have illustrated that 52, 51, and 55 women, respectively,
suffered apparent violence during those
years.
Here are some statistics that deserve
attention.
From 1998 to 2002, a number of crimes committed against juvenile girls
were reported in the country, including: sexual violence against a person below
16 or a person who has not reached maturity—11 cases in 1998, 16 cases in each
of 1999 and 2000, 22 cases in 2001, and 8 cases in 2002; establishment of an
effectively marital relationship with a person who has not reached the marital
age or a person who has not reached maturity—2 cases in 1998, 6 cases in 1999, 3
cases in 2000, 5 cases in 2001, and 8 cases in
2002.
Violence is frequently targeted against commercial sex workers. This phenomenon has recently become
widespread due to the deterioration of the social-economic situation in the
country, as well as the prevalence of rather liberal laws in relation to
exploiters and organizers of commercial sex work. Another essential cause is the lack of
an efficient system of moral and sexual education for adolescents and the
youth.
Challenges
·
Lack of statistics and social and scientific
research.
·
Imperfection of the legislative
framework.
·
Lack of an
efficient system of moral and sexual education for adolescents and the
youth.
Strategy
5.1.
Ensuring
research into the phenomenon of violence and generating concise information.
5.2.
Developing
effective arrangements to protect the rights and lawful interests of women and
girls.
5.3.
Facilitating
the prevention of prostitution and sexual exploitation.
5.4.
Developing
arrangements and methods to address the consequences of violence in families of
violence victims.
Measures
5.1.1. To
carry out research aimed at detecting cases of violence in various areas of
social life and analyzing their reasons.
5.2.1. To develop
a set of indicators defining violence, which should be incorporated in
statistical reports.
5.2.2. To
harmonize the provisions of the national legislation with the requirements of
the international treaties of the RoA.
5.2.3. To
study successful experiences of other countries in addressing this
issue.
5.3.1. To
organize comprehensive education and training courses for social workers, health
and education system experts, and law enforcement personnel dealing with women
who are victims of violence.
5.3.2. To
institutionalize professional services (hotlines) for reporting and preventing
violence in appropriate urban and rural institutions of the country (hospitals,
police units, and social service centers).
5.4.1. To study
successful experiences of other countries in addressing this
issue.
5.4.2.
To create
professional facilities to address the consequences of violence in relevant
urban and rural institutions of the country with the aim to provide medical
services, legal, social-psychological rehabilitation assistance to the victims
of violence.
Section
6
Elimination
of trafficking of women and girls
On June 5,
2002 US State Secretary published 2001 annual world report on human trafficking,
where Armenia was placed within Tier 3, which was the most unfavorable one.
According to that report, Armenia is considered to be the country of origin of
girls and women.
The
Republic of Armenia has already undertaken steps for rectifying the existing
situation. On January 15, 2004 RA Government has adopted the Decision #58-N on
National Plan of Action against Human Trafficking 2004-2006. The main activities
of the plan are directed towards the elimination of trafficking of girls and
women. The main direction of the program is:
·
Legislation
and its implementation
·
Conduction
of researches
·
Prevention
·
Protection
and support
No actions
are planned by this NPA. All actions for elimination trafficking of girls and
women in the Republic will be carried out within the framework of the 2004-2006
NPA on Human Trafficking.
Section
7
Role of the Mass
Media and Cultural Institutions in Reporting on Women’s Issues and Building a
Female Role Model
The mass media
has a crucial role to play in shaping the conscience of the public. In recognition of this fact, the Beijing
Conference has recommended some actions to the Member
States.
The role of the
mass media in shaping a role model image of women has also been emphasized by
the Council of Europe Committee for the Equality of Rights of Women and
Men.
Although women’s
issues are covered by the mass media, there is not sufficient reporting on the
prevailing problems, the real difficulties faced by women, and the obstacles to
women’s fully-fledged participation in social life. Moreover, the contribution of women to
social, political, and cultural life is not properly covered. The way in which the mass media present
women’s issues is, from time to time, colored by rejection and
degradation.
It is necessary
to mention the negative impact of aesthetically cheap TV content, movies, soap
operas, and various shows, which are full of images offending the dignity of
women, often preach violent and uncivilized ways of addressing conflicts within
the family and society, and are conducive of moral devaluation and the emergence
of socially unacceptable morals.
In various
commercials, women are often presented as either commodities, or supplements to
commodities, despite that arts and the mass media ought to shape positive ideals
of women and men and overcome negative stereotypes. TV stations, in particular, have much to
do in this respect; they should not neglect these concerns and should emphasize
the peculiarities of and differences between women and
men.
Challenges
Strategy
7.1. Ensuring
effective coverage of women’s issues, as well as public mass media reports and
publications aimed at building positive images of women and
men.
7.2. Supporting
private mass media reporting on women’s
issues.
7.3. Supporting
the development of positive ideals of women and men in the perception of
society, and enhancing the reputation of
women.
7.4. Ensuring
oversight of the process of disseminating and advocating information that
encroaches upon the dignity of women in the mass media, the Internet, and
spiritual-cultural institutions.
Measures
7.1.1. To
organize training courses to raise the gender awareness of
journalists.
7.2.1. To order
the production of TV shows and special pages in the print press, and to publish
brochures on women’s rights and gender
issues.
7.2.2. To facilitate the entrenchment of sound partnership between the mass media, NGOs, and other stakeholders
7.3.1. To carry
out monitoring of radio and TV content and publications in order to overcome the
trend of presenting a socially undesirable and degrading image of
women.
7.4.1. To ensure
supervision of efforts of the mass media, the Internet, and spiritual-cultural
institutions to preach and disseminate information that encroaches upon the
dignity of women.
7.4.2. To develop
legislative proposals on banning and supervising mass media content that
preaches indecency and violence.
Section
7
At
present, women’s issues are dealt with by the Department for Women’s and
Children’s Issues created within the Republic of Armenia Social Security
Ministry in 1997, as well as the Mother and Child Health Protection Division of
the Republic of Armenia Ministry of Health. In 1997, the Prime Minister issued a
decree on creating a Committee to carry out the 1998-2000 Gender Policy
Development Program. This was a
three-year program designed to improve the status of women, which was never
implemented due to the lack of financing.
In 2000,
the Women’s Council was created under the Prime Minister of the Republic of
Armenia, which is a voluntary consultative body. In 2002, a deputy minister was appointed
in the Social Security Minister to coordinate activities aimed at addressing
women’s issues. However, all of
these bodies tackle social, health-related, and employment concerns, and do not
have sufficient resources and powers to either develop or carry out an effective
policy to overcome women’s issues and to ensure equal rights and opportunities
for women and men.
Thus, it
is necessary to either create a new institution or to give more powers to an
existing one, to carry out persistent projects aimed at addressing women’s
issues, to coordinate and oversee activities of executive authorities in areas
related to women’s issues, to come up with recommendations on the legal
regulation of women’s issues, and to collaborate with legislative and judicial
authorities and non-governmental organizations.
This type
of an approach fits well with the international standards and complies with the
international commitments undertaken by the Republic of
Armenia.
Challenges
·
Lack of a
public agency with appropriate functions to deal with women’s
rights.
Strategy
8.1.
Developing effective institutional arrangements to address women’s issues.
Measures
8.1.1.
To develop suggestions regarding the establishment of a public agency, which
will coordinate and supervise activities of executive authorities in relation to
women’s issues.