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The purpose of the adoption of the legislative package is to increase the effectiveness of the prevention of domestic violence and the protection of victims of violence. Zaruhi Batoyan said, presenting the package of draft laws on Making Amendments and Addenda to the law on Prevention of Violence in the Family, Protection of Persons Subjected to Violence in the Family and Restoration of Solidarity in the Family.

The package of draft laws authored by the deputies Zaruhi Batoyan, Sona Ghazaryan and Tsovinar Vardanyan was debated in the first reading at the RA NA regular sitting on February 7.

The law regulating the sector was adopted in 2017 and the bill under debate is the first major initiative after the implementation of the law, which addresses the gaps and problems that have emerged. “With the package of drafts, in particular, it is proposed to revise the title of the law, to clarify the existing definitions by bringing them into line with the definitions of the RA Criminal Code, to supplement them with new definitions, to consider the child as a person subjected to violence by law as well, to revise the terms of urgent intervention and protective decision,” Zaruhi Batoyan said, introducing the proposed amendments and addenda in detail.

Instead of primary medical care, it is proposed to establish by law free and preferential medical care and service for persons subjected to domestic violence.

According to the key rapporteur, the package was debated with all the responsible institutions, as well as the human rights organizations, Human rights Defender (HRD) office: The main proposals and observations have been accepted.

Zaruhi Batoyan answered the MPs’ questions, presenting clarifications regarding the title of the law, the definition of domestic violence, and the term ‘partner’.

The co-rapporteur, the member of the Standing Committee on Protection of Human Rights and Public Affairs Tigran Parsilian, while presenting the main provisions of the draft, stressed that the law refers to the cases of violence. Emphasizing the urgency of the adoption of the legislative package, the protection of the security of vulnerable groups, the co-rapporteur proposed his colleagues to vote for it, making the necessary amendments during the period from the first to the second reading.

The co-rapporteur, the Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Arpine Sargsyan noted that among the priorities of the reforms implemented by the Government is the effective fight against domestic violence. According to her, one of the effective ways is to provide proper legislative toolkits.

In their speeches, mentioning that last year 14 women died as a result of domestic violence, the deputies underlined that the legislative initiative has an important component of prevention. The issue of criminalizing persecution was highlighted.

The Secretary of the RA NA Armenia Faction Artsvik Minasyan pointed out that Armenia Faction will vote against the draft in the terms it was presented. According to him, the issue is artificially brought to the agenda to start a new wave in the society.

The RA NA President Alen Simonyan asked: “Do you want to say that there is no domestic violence in Armenia? The whole world addresses this issue 2-3 times a year, they provide legislative solutions in all possible ways to exclude it as much as possible.”

In his speech on behalf of the RA NA Civil Contract Faction, the Secretary of the Faction Arthur Hovhannisyan, underscoring that the law is about the prevention of domestic violence, noted that the definition of the new notions will prevent those types of violence that were not prevented in any way by the legislation and the citizens had no opportunity to protect themselves by the legislation.

The package of draft laws was adopted in the first reading.