Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan received representatives of non-governmental organizations that are members of the Coalition to End Violence Against Women.

The Prime Minister welcomed the attendees and highlighted the discussion of the issue of violence against women. Nikol Pashinyan emphasized that the issue is important for the Armenian government for several reasons, where the order of listing should not be perceived as a criterion for importance. "First, violence is against our ideology, that is, our ideology is against violence. Second, the level and state of human rights protection in general is a very important political priority for our government. I must emphasize that this topic sometimes receives additional contexts: political, even geopolitical and international context, each of which has its own explanation and justification.

But I want to honestly say that for us the issue gains special importance in the following logic, without belittling all other nuances that may exist. In my final speech during the discussions of the 2024 state budget, I emphasized that the state interest of the Republic of Armenia, in my and our perception, is the economic development of Armenia and development in general.

Recently, the Statistical Committee of Armenia published statistics on the composition of the population of Armenia. We see that 53 percent of the population in Armenia are women, 47 percent are men, as well as 54 percent of labor resources are women, 46 percent are men. In this regard, our analysis is as follows. In order to ensure the normal development of Armenia, we must, inter alia, create conditions so that the potential of women has a full opportunity to express itself in economic, public and all possible directions, to be involved in the development of the state. Providing such conditions is essential from the point of view of further development of our country.

Of course, I do not want to belittle the other layers and sub-layers that are often obvious and often discussed. My experience, in the sense that I have dealt with the issue in a number of cases, while seeing all kinds of reports, documents and specific situations, if I look at the issue from this point of view, I must record that violence against women is one of the key obstacles in ensuring their economic and public activity. This is also the reason why I wanted to meet today with such a representative group, firstly to emphasize the importance of the topic, then also this point of view and the context with the understanding that, in my opinion, sometimes this issue is overlooked or not emphasized," said the Prime Minister.

According to Nikol Pashinyan, in many cases, an attempt is made to give the topic a completely different context, trying to justify that our traditional values and traditional ideas are being attacked by the discussions of this topic. "But I must also say that I strongly disagree with such understandings and perceptions, because even if someone thinks that violence, including in the family and everyday life, is an important tradition, then it should be noted that it is a bad tradition and should be overcome.

I will be happy to listen to your observations and record what result or conclusion you expect from today's meeting," said the Prime Minister.

During the meeting, issues related to the prevention of violence against women, the steps taken by the Armenian government in that direction, the already implemented legislative changes, women's problems and possible steps to solve them were discussed.

The members of the coalition emphasized the improvements in the prevention of violence against women in recent years and emphasized their continuity. Further formats of interaction with civil society were also discussed.