Women Human Rights Defenders in a New Social and Political Reality of Armenia: Active in the Margins, Unprotected in the Core

Abstract

Women human rights defenders stand up for women’s rights and gender equality, they see and believe in the importance of being vocal for those women and girls around the world that are somehow deprived from the opportunity to speak for themselves. This policy paper addresses women’s and gender issues in Armenia, and especially the ways women human rights defenders react and respond to gender-based injustices. Recent experiences demonstrated that women human rights defenders and activists are significant actors in the women’s movement in Armenia that has tried to establish the climate of equality in the Armenian society for more than a century. With this policy brief we highlight the importance of the work of women human rights defenders in Armenia especially in the new political and social realities in the country which, despite the fact of the revolution, are still to be transformed from complex gender perspectives. We argue that although Armenia is undergoing major political, social and economic changes and, hopefully, developments, there is evidently a need to point out some field-specific important aspects that the state and other stakeholders should consider in their works and co-operations. This policy brief also addresses the issue of safety of women human rights defenders and gives recommendations to different stakeholders/ parties in decision-making.