By Mark Dovich
On May 11, Armenia’s National Assembly voted to ratify the Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse. More commonly known as the Lanzarote Convention, it is the first international treaty that addresses child abuse within the home and requires state parties to take specific measures to protect minors from sexual abuse.
The Armenian government, then led by President Serzh Sargsyan, signed the Lanzarote Convention in 2010, but failed to ratify it. Before the National Assembly’s vote this week, Armenia and Ireland were the only two Council of Europe member states—out of a total of 47 countries—that had not ratified the treaty. In addition, all three of Armenia’s neighbors that belong to the organization had already ratified the convention: Turkey in 2011, Georgia in 2014, and Azerbaijan in 2019.
The National Assembly voted 79-12 in favor of the convention’s ratification, with several representatives of the ruling My Step alliance abstaining. These abstentions are likely a reflection of fierce opposition to the treaty by Armenia’s emerging far right groups, whose members were seen protesting outside the legislature as the vote was called.
In 2018, Armenia’s Investigative Committee opened 76 criminal cases involving sexual violence against children, while the country’s police force reported 50 cases in the same period. This discrepancy has arisen because Armenia does not have a single, unified system for reporting sexual assault. Compounding issues involving this lack of reliable data, sexual assault cases in Armenia often go unreported due to strong cultural taboos that frequently involve the blaming and shaming of victims. As a result, the number of reported cases is almost certainly lower than the number of assaults actually committed.
Receiving messages of support from the influential Armenian Apostolic Church, and gaining significant exposure on media platforms controlled by figures connected with the prerevolutionary government, Armenia’s far right groups have become well-known for criticizing Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan through xenophobic, antifeminist, and homophobic rhetoric.
These activities mirror the ongoing smear campaign against Pashinyan’s administration organized by media groups associated with controversial businessman Mikayel Minasyan, son-in-law of former President Serzh Sargsyan and former ambassador of Armenia to the Vatican. Last month, Armenia’s National Security Service announced indictments against Minasyan on charges of illegal enrichment and money laundering, which Minasyan, who now lives abroad, has denied.
In the case of the Lanzarote Convention, Pashinyan’s critics have leveled charges that the treaty’s ratification undermines the traditional family unit and imposes ‘alien values’ on Armenia. By suggesting that Pashinyan is ‘betraying national values’, these groups attempt to discredit his entire administration—manipulating divisive issues in Armenia’s ongoing culture wars to their own political benefit.
In response, Olya Azatyan, a prominent Armenian civil society activist, denounced the far right groups and opposition media platforms which have come out against the convention’s ratification.
Meanwhile, Arman Tatoyan, Armenia’s Human Rights Defender, placed blame squarely on the government itself, which he says failed to “ensure proper public awareness” of the convention’s purpose, contents, and goals.
The anti-Pashinyan opposition’s response to the Lanzarote Convention’s ratification will remind any Armenia watcher of the controversy that erupted last year after the country’s authorities announced their intent to ratify the Istanbul Convention, another Council of Europe treaty. Known officially as the Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence, the treaty legally defines violence against women and requires state parties to take specific measures to combat gender-based violence.
The parallels are numerous: both treaties were signed, but not ratified by the Armenian government prior to the 2018 Velvet Revolution; both treaties address human rights issues involving the family unit; and both treaties have become lightning rods for government criticism by far right groups and opposition media platforms. It may be precisely for that reason that the previous government avoided bringing the issue before the legislature.
As of this writing, Armenia’s National Assembly has yet to ratify the Istanbul Convention. Armenia’s neighbors Turkey and Georgia have already ratified the convention, while Azerbaijan has neither signed nor ratified it.
Though it remains unclear why Armenia’s government chose to ratify the Lanzarote Convention now, the move does come amid mounting pressure by international organizations on the post-Velvet Revolution government to ratify long-stalled treaties.
In fact, since 2018, the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Dunja Mijatovic, has repeatedly called on the Armenian government to ratify both the Lanzarote and the Istanbul Conventions, amid other recommendations. Mijatovic reiterated those points during a visit to Armenia that September. The Council of Europe expects all member countries to rigorously support basic human rights, even if that means giving the state the right to intervene if there is evidence of crimes committed within the family unit.
Additionally, the Council of Europe announced last year that it selected Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Ukraine as pilot countries for a program that seeks to combat online sexual exploitation of children in the Caucasus, Southeastern Europe, Turkey, and Ukraine. It is not clear why the Council of Europe selected these particular countries as pilots for the program.
In light of this pressure, the Armenian government issued a pledge to the UN Human Rights Office in 2019, exactly 30 years after it acceded to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, that it would undertake the “necessary measures for the ratification of the” Lanzarote Convention.