On December 9-10, 2022 within the framework of 16-day activity campaign of Combating Gender –based Violence a conference on “Proceedings on Domestic Violence and Harassments against Children under New Criminal and Criminal Procedure Code Amendments” has been held in Tsaghkadzor.

The conference was organized by the INL program of the U.S. Embassy to Armenia. Representatives of the law enforcement bodies of Armenia – the Investigative Committee, Prosecutor’s Office, Police, judicial system, as well as Human Rights Defender Office and NGOs, specialized in the sphere, took part in the event. The U.S. Deputy Ambassador to Armenia Chip Laitinen and the Deputy Chairman of the RA Investigative Committee Arsen Ayvazyan made a welcome speech.

The issues of strengthening and efficiency of the criminal legal fight against domestic violence and harassment against children, development of professional capacities of criminal prosecution bodies during pre-trial proceedings within the framework of the new criminal and criminal procedure codes, cooperation between the key institutions in this fight have been considered.

In his speech the Deputy Chairman of the RA Investigative Committee Arsen Ayvazyan emphasized that the holding of the conference is aimed at forming the perception of intolerance towards domestic violence, harassment against minors. According to the RA IC Deputy Chairman, although the statistics states that in recent times, citizens have become more proactive in alerting law enforcement bodies about domestic violence, however there is yet a lot to do in this direction. He informed that in the near future the RA Investigative Committee will be directly involved in awareness activities in public schools regarding various types of crimes and, first of all, domestic violence. Arsen Ayvazyan also attached importance to the fact that the new criminal and criminal procedure codes have a strong emphasis on combating domestic violence which is another step forward in the direction of increasing the protection of human rights in our country.

The U.S. Deputy Ambassador to Armenia Chip Laitinen welcomed the holding of similar conference in Armenia in the context of 16-day activity campaign of Combating Gender–based Violence.  He attached importance to the continuous development of professional skills for the fight against violence in families, against women and girls within the framework of the criminal justice. Mr. Laitinen expressed confidence that the holding of the conference with participation of all the interested parties will contribute to increasing the efficiency of victim-centered investigations within criminal proceedings and to the greater concentration of forces for the protection of rights of one of the most vulnerable groups of the society – the children.