Protection for women and girls still failed to meet international standards.
Amnesty International Report 2011
In March, the government set up the State Interagency Committee to Combat Gender-Based Violence following a decree by the Prime Minister. However, no progress had been made by the government on enacting legislation specifically addressing violence against women and the setting up of shelters, contrary to a 2009 CEDAW recommendation. There was currently only one shelter in the country, run by the NGO, Women’s Rights Centre, with foreign donor funding.
In October, 20-year-old Zaruhi Petrosian, a victim of ongoing domestic violence, died, reportedly after being severely beaten by her husband and mother-in-law. According to her sister, Zaruhi Petrosian had approached police on two occasions to report the abuse and seek help but they reportedly dismissed her case as “unimportant” and “irrelevant”. Following extensive publicity about the case, the authorities arrested her husband and charged him with “causing wilfully heavy damage to health”.
