Opposition turns down Anna Hakobyan’s offer to meet over domestic violence legislation

The two opposition factions in the Armenian parliament – Strong Armenia and Armenia (Hayastan) – have rejected Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s wife Anna Hakobyan’s offer to meet as part of her efforts to draft new legislation on domestic violence.

“Our faction doesn’t have any such desire,” Strong Armenia faction leader Narek Karapetyan told reporters.

In turn, Armenia faction leader Anna Grigoryan likewise said she would not meet with Hakobyan.

Anna Hakobyan, the wife of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and executive director of the My Step Foundation, is calling for domestic violence to be criminalized as a standalone offense as part of an initiative to combat domestic violence in Armenia.

As part of her “Learning is Trendy” movement, Hakobyan has released the first full video in a series dedicated to combating domestic violence, outlining her approach to addressing the issue and the steps she plans to take.

She said Armenia needs clear, realistic, effective and victim-centered legislative and law-enforcement mechanisms.

To this end, Hakobyan has initiated discussions with independent experts from Armenia and the diaspora, relevant officials, as well as women MPs who have previously worked in this area, to examine gaps in existing legislation, law-enforcement issues and current challenges.

The first stage of the initiative envisages drafting comprehensive and effective legislation and submitting it to parliament for debate.

Hakobyan said she would invite women MPs from the two opposition factions to join the work.

“I invite female opposition MPs to also join the process of amending the Criminal Code and recognizing domestic violence as a separate crime. Naturally, my proposal should be discussed with the leaders of the two opposition factions, so I invite the leader of the ‘Strong Armenia’ faction Narek Karapetyan and the leader of the ‘Hayastan’ faction Anna Grigoryan to a meeting,” the prime minister’s wife said.

The second stage is planned to begin after the law is adopted and enters into force. It will include a broad public awareness campaign, training for employees of relevant authorities, and effective implementation of the new regulations.

At the same time, a group of prominent experts is preparing a nationwide study aimed at collecting reliable and as comprehensive as possible data on the actual prevalence of domestic violence against women in Armenia.