Istanbul Convention doesn’t stipulate legalization of same-sex marriages – Armenian justice minister

YEREVAN, JULY 29, ARMENPRESS. Justice minister of Armenia Rustam Badasyan presented several clarifications over the ongoing artificial comments regarding the ratification process of the Council of Europe Conventionon preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (Istanbul Convention).

The minister said live on Facebook that he sees a tendency on forming a negative influence against the leadership.

Before introducing the facts, the minister recommended the citizens to read the Convention which is the best way to understand it.

“The Convention is about introduction of mechanisms for preventing violence against women and revealing violence cases, tools for fighting them, as well as providing certain support by the law enforcement agencies in violence cases against women. The Convention doesn’t stipulate legalization of same-sex marriages”, the minister said.

He stated that according to the regulation no third sex is recognized in any way, because the concepts “sex” and “gender” are clearly differentiated in the Convention.

“In this regard I would like to touch upon the obvious manipulations, because since June 2013, when the Law of the Republic of Armenia on ensuring the equal rights and opportunities of women and men entered into force, the term “gender” was known from that moment and was interpreted as an acquired behavior, therefore by the ratification of this Convention no new term enters into Armenia’s legal system. Of course, a question arises that if no new term is imported and there is already a regulation at a law level which clearly mentions the meaning of the word gender, who are those groups who try in any way to present the public in the context of contradiction of sensitive topics known for the public. I think the response to this question is clear. If something is known in Armenia’s legal system and doesn’t in any way regulate by this Convention, but is being manipulated that such concepts will be imported with this Convention and the path will open for legalization of [same-sex] marriages or adoption of children, I think the answer is obvious”, the minister said.

The justice ministry today issued a statement on the Istanbul Convention.

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan