Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly-Vanadzor

On February 27, 2025, a discussion was held “On the state of the protection of women’s rights in the RA Armed Forces”. The discussion was opened by Artur Sakunts,  the chairman of Helsinki Citizen’s Assembly-Vanadzor, and His Majesty's Consul Paul Morris, the Deputy Head of Mission at the British Embassy in Yerevan. 

The discussion was dedicated to the presentation of the results of the 1st project “Fostering human rights of women in the RA armed forces" implemented by HCAV and the proposed addenda to the program of study for women's 6-month voluntary mandatory military service within the framework of the 2nd program. 

As a result of the research carried out in the years 2023-2024, HCAV identified problems related to the involvement of women in military service, the formulated recommendations for addressing these problems were sent to the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Armenia and other interested parties in March 2024: the Standing Committee on Defense and Security Issues of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,  the Human Rights Defender of the RA with the aim of discussing and taking steps toward resolving the identified problems. The majority of the recommendations were taken into consideration by the Ministry of Defence of the RA.  

The discussion took place under the project “Fostering human rights of women in the RA armed forces II”, with the financial support of the UK Government, through a sub-grant from the Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR). The opinions, findings, and conclusions stated herein are those of HCAV and do not necessarily reflect the official position of the UK Government or the views of IWPR.