“Step by step, we are changing the prevailing attitude towards violence against women.” – staff member, Anna Arutshyan

Open the eyes of the public and government officials to the plight of millions of Armenian women.  

Why we care: In Armenia, violence affects millions of women: one in three report physical abuse and over a half of women report psychological or emotional abuse.

How we’re solving this: Sending mobile teams of lawyers and journalists to remote areas to report domestic abuse, provide free legal advice, and monitor court cases.

Twenty-year-old Zaruhi Petrosyan was brutally beaten by her husband and mother-in-law and died on October 1st, 2010. In the eyes of the public, she is now just a statistic. The Armenian government has a very poor record on combating widespread violence against women – in fact, it denies it – and is one of the very few countries in Europe without legislation criminalizing domestic violence. Without legal protections, women are denied justice.

Society Without Violence (SWV) is breaking the silence about domestic violence. This year SWV will create a Rapid Response Unit (RRU), comprised of women human rights defenders, to make domestic violence a national priority. In addition to providing on-site support in remote villages, the unit will also observe news, TV talk shows and reality shows to report instances of harmful stereotyping of women and gender discrimination. By organizing public events and press conferences, and publishing articles the unit will shed light on the domestic violence crisis and demand official action.

SWV strives for the following results:

  • Change the attitude surrounding domestic violence by exposing the crisis and publicizing the cases documented by the RRU on a dedicated SWV website: www.rru.swv.am.
  • Increase the number of domestic violence cases brought to court by providing pro bono legal assistance and publishing the numbers of court-prosecuted cases.
  • Change stereotypes of women’s roles by monitoring media content for six months and organizing public and media events that promote women’s rights and dignity.

No woman deserves to be humiliated, offended, or harassed at home or in public. As long as domestic violence is deemed acceptable, the debilitating statistics will continue to increase. The RRU team will ensure that cases do not go unreported and receive public attention and just prosecution.