Human Dimension Implementation Meeting WORKING SESSION 14

27 September, 2016

Human Dimension Implementation Meeting

WORKING SESSION 14
Tolerance and Non-Discrimination II, including ensuring equal opportunity for women and men in all spheres of life, including through implementation of the OSCE Action Plan for the Promotion of Gender Equality

As delivered by
Mr. Davit Knyazyan, Deputy Head of the Permanent Delegation of Armenia to the OSCE

Ms. Moderator,

Promotion of equality between men and women is a priority for the Government of Armenia. We closely cooperate with the OSCE, including the OSCE Office in Yerevan in implementation of our commitments in the sphere of gender equality. The Office streamlines gender equality in its programmes in all three dimensions, including security sector reform, economic empowerment of women and combating domestic violence and violence against women.

The Government of Armenia supports the activities of the Office in this regard and its engagement with the civil society. We are pleased to note that the Office jointly with OSCE field operations in Moldova and Tajikistan has organized a side event, which can be useful opportunity to exchange best practices, evaluate efficiency of programmes of the field offices and also discuss challenges with representatives of participating States and civil society.

We also welcome participation in the session of the representatives of the Women Resource Centres in Armenia.

I would like to introduce a bit of security perspective into our discussion. OSCE is a security organization, which is supposed to strengthen peace and security through promoting human rights, including human rights of women. The OSCE needs to be more active in empowerment of women in the field of confidence building between peoples affected by conflicts.

Activities of the OSCE in this regard should be comprehensive and inclusive, by engaging all women in the OSCE area, including those residing in conflict zones. OSCE programmes, surveys or trainings, which do not cover this category of women, which are the most affected by conflicts, will lack added value.

We would like to recommend the OSCE Gender Section to address human rights of women residing in conflict areas.

In reaction to the distinguished representatives of civil society, we would like to mention that equality between men and women is guaranteed by the legislation of Armenia. The law “On equality between men and women” has recently entered into force. We recognize that challenges may arise when it comes to practical implementation of the provisions of the law. The Government of Armenia is cooperating with the specialized NGOs in this regard.

Finally, indeed the Labour Code of the Republic of Armenia envisages that women cannot work in the industrial facilities, operating poisonous materials. This is exactly the case when the discrimination of positive nature.

Thank You.

MFA RA
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