A small but important victory for Armenian women

lara aha

iTalk

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• armenia
• domestic violence
• VAW

After 1 year of struggle and constant monitoring and awareness raising, the Women's groups and the coalition to stop violence against women in Armenia witnessed finally their first victory. A year ago, Zaruhi a young mother was beaten to death by her husband. The whole nation was shocked by the news and it was the first time that a domestic violence case was talked about publicly. Armenia is a very conservative country and issues like domestic violence is considered as a private matter and not deserving a societal mobilization. A handfull of women's organization have been struggling for the past years to raise the issue in the different communities of the country and yesterday was a proof that they came a long way. Following Zaruhi's murder 7 organizations gathered together for the first time and built the Coalition to Stop Violence Against Women and worked together for the past year to make sure that the case of this young women will find justice in Armenia's legal court. After many public actions, open letters, meetings and court monitorings, finally yesterday, the husband was convicted to a maximum sentence 10 years in prison. Now I know this sentence seems very lenient but for Armenia it is a first victory. But the struggle did not end yet, Armenia still needs to pass a domestic violence law and work more on raising awareness in the rural areas as well as the regional cities. Working in a coalition made things much successful and the work continues...

For more on Zaruhi's case see here: http://www.armenianweekly.com/2011/10/14/zaruhi-husband-receives-10-year...