Tweet
CHILD ABUSE NEEDS CHANGE IN PUBLIC ATTITUDES IN ARMENIA
Institute for War and Peace Reporting, UK
IWPR Caucasus Reporting #769
March 2 2015
Police investigations can be flawed and public attitudes are often
unsympathetic.
by Marine Kharatyan
In 2011, child abuse hit the headlines in the Armenian media when a
13-year-old became pregnant after suffering systematic sexual violence
perpetrated by her father.
However, not only did attempts to prosecute the man fail, but the girl,
who lives in a town in southern Armenia, found herself ostracised by
the local community.
The girl had an abortion. Police filed a criminal casebut a DNA
examination was unable to confirm paternity. The case was closed due
to a lack of evidence.
The girl's lawyer, Nona Galstyan, said there were problems with the
way the investigation was done.
"It became apparent during the investigation that some of [the girl's]
testimony contradicted other evidence. Had the investigation been done
in a more comprehensive way, we would have been able to identify the
perpetrator," she told IWPR.
While it was established beyond doubt the victim suffered violence,"the
investigation didn't look at whether only one person or several were
involved. It focused only on the father and was halted," Galstyan said.
Afterwards, the local community was less than sympathetic towards
the victim.
"Attitudes towards the family in the town were generally intolerant,"
journalist Susanna Shahnazaryan told IWPR. "I know that parents
complained in school, and felt that their children could not learn
in the same class [as the girl]."
The child's mother said parents even organised a petition to have her
excluded. Eventually, she was suspended from school, although education
officials said this was because of prior behavioural problems.
Now 16, the girl is passing her exams after being tutored at home,
but her mother says she is lonely and still cannot understand why
she has no friends.
Experts say the case highlights concerns about how Armenia's judicial
system and wider society deal with child sex abuse cases.
According to police figures, there has been a 150 per cent rise in the
number of criminal investigations involving sexual violence against
minors - including young children - over the last ten years.
Psychologist Tatevik Aghabekyan, head of the Sexual Violence Crisis
Centre, told IWPR that more than half the cases of sexual assault in
the country involve minors.
She attributes the rising number of recorded cases to improved media
coverage and greater public awareness, but says lot of ignorance
still surrounds the subject.
Aghabekyan says children are often afraid to report violence as they
do not realise it is the perpetrators who will be punished.
"Even underage victims are considered guilty," she said. "People
think the blame lies with them or their parents."
"It is important that society itself does not shun and isolate these
children... and that it helps ot bring them back to a normal life,"
Aghabekyan said.
David Tumanyan, a lawyer at the OSCE mission in Yerevan who specialises
in cases of abuse of minors, told IWPR that investigations were
generally carried out properly, but there were times when judges were
not supportive of the child.
"There was one case where a child had previously had sexual relations,
and the judge didn't prevent the defence putting questions that were
designed to smear the victim's past behaviour," Tumanyan said.
He said that more work was also needed on rehabilitating thevictims
of abuse, particularly because of social attitudes to the issue.
"First of all, it's essential to strengthen the protection of children
during the preliminary investigation and during trial, and later employ
social programmes to reintegrate them into society," Tumanyan said.
In 2013, the penalties for sexual violence against minors were
toughened, and human rights activists hope this will have a positive
impact on child protection.
Armenia's official human rights ombudsman, Karen Andreasyan, told
IWPR that the priority now was to inform children of their rights,
including within the family.
"We have seen many cases where family members bringing up a child think
it's quite normal to hit them," he said, adding that more needed to
be done to educate adults and children alike about their human rights.
Andreasyan pointed to a need to provide a safe space where children
could report incidents.
"We haven't yet developed this kind of system. For this reason, I
cannot say that awareness or child protection has reached the right
level. Nor are there rehabilitation centres for abused children,
and work isn't being done to prevent similar cases," he added.
Armenian police say they have juvenile protection teams which hold
regular meetings in schools to make young people more aware of the
issues - how to spot abuse, and what to do about it.
Marine Kharatyan is a freelance journalist in Armenia.
https://iwpr.net/global-voices/child-abuse-needs-change-public-attitudes
Institute for War and Peace Reporting, UK
IWPR Caucasus Reporting #769
March 2 2015
Police investigations can be flawed and public attitudes are often
unsympathetic.
by Marine Kharatyan
In 2011, child abuse hit the headlines in the Armenian media when a
13-year-old became pregnant after suffering systematic sexual violence
perpetrated by her father.
However, not only did attempts to prosecute the man fail, but the girl,
who lives in a town in southern Armenia, found herself ostracised by
the local community.
The girl had an abortion. Police filed a criminal casebut a DNA
examination was unable to confirm paternity. The case was closed due
to a lack of evidence.
The girl's lawyer, Nona Galstyan, said there were problems with the
way the investigation was done.
"It became apparent during the investigation that some of [the girl's]
testimony contradicted other evidence. Had the investigation been done
in a more comprehensive way, we would have been able to identify the
perpetrator," she told IWPR.
While it was established beyond doubt the victim suffered violence,"the
investigation didn't look at whether only one person or several were
involved. It focused only on the father and was halted," Galstyan said.
Afterwards, the local community was less than sympathetic towards
the victim.
"Attitudes towards the family in the town were generally intolerant,"
journalist Susanna Shahnazaryan told IWPR. "I know that parents
complained in school, and felt that their children could not learn
in the same class [as the girl]."
The child's mother said parents even organised a petition to have her
excluded. Eventually, she was suspended from school, although education
officials said this was because of prior behavioural problems.
Now 16, the girl is passing her exams after being tutored at home,
but her mother says she is lonely and still cannot understand why
she has no friends.
Experts say the case highlights concerns about how Armenia's judicial
system and wider society deal with child sex abuse cases.
According to police figures, there has been a 150 per cent rise in the
number of criminal investigations involving sexual violence against
minors - including young children - over the last ten years.
Psychologist Tatevik Aghabekyan, head of the Sexual Violence Crisis
Centre, told IWPR that more than half the cases of sexual assault in
the country involve minors.
She attributes the rising number of recorded cases to improved media
coverage and greater public awareness, but says lot of ignorance
still surrounds the subject.
Aghabekyan says children are often afraid to report violence as they
do not realise it is the perpetrators who will be punished.
"Even underage victims are considered guilty," she said. "People
think the blame lies with them or their parents."
"It is important that society itself does not shun and isolate these
children... and that it helps ot bring them back to a normal life,"
Aghabekyan said.
David Tumanyan, a lawyer at the OSCE mission in Yerevan who specialises
in cases of abuse of minors, told IWPR that investigations were
generally carried out properly, but there were times when judges were
not supportive of the child.
"There was one case where a child had previously had sexual relations,
and the judge didn't prevent the defence putting questions that were
designed to smear the victim's past behaviour," Tumanyan said.
He said that more work was also needed on rehabilitating thevictims
of abuse, particularly because of social attitudes to the issue.
"First of all, it's essential to strengthen the protection of children
during the preliminary investigation and during trial, and later employ
social programmes to reintegrate them into society," Tumanyan said.
In 2013, the penalties for sexual violence against minors were
toughened, and human rights activists hope this will have a positive
impact on child protection.
Armenia's official human rights ombudsman, Karen Andreasyan, told
IWPR that the priority now was to inform children of their rights,
including within the family.
"We have seen many cases where family members bringing up a child think
it's quite normal to hit them," he said, adding that more needed to
be done to educate adults and children alike about their human rights.
Andreasyan pointed to a need to provide a safe space where children
could report incidents.
"We haven't yet developed this kind of system. For this reason, I
cannot say that awareness or child protection has reached the right
level. Nor are there rehabilitation centres for abused children,
and work isn't being done to prevent similar cases," he added.
Armenian police say they have juvenile protection teams which hold
regular meetings in schools to make young people more aware of the
issues - how to spot abuse, and what to do about it.
Marine Kharatyan is a freelance journalist in Armenia.
https://iwpr.net/global-voices/child-abuse-needs-change-public-attitudes