Recap | April 2024
Film Mosaic x2024
On April 9, Pink in collaboration with the Copenhagen Architecture Festival screened 5 short films in Yerevan, made within the framework of the organization’s scholarship program. After the screening the participants had the opportunity to discuss the films with the authors. And afterwards, a screening was organized in Tbilisi as well
Among the 80 participants, our partners from Denmark and Georgia also attended the event.The films will soon be shown in Copenhagen, after which new screenings will be organized again in Armenia.
We congratulate the talented film authors and wish them further success.
The 2023 annual report of the RA Ombudsperson
The Ombudsperson’s office launched the annual report on the protection of human rights and freedoms during 2023.
It is worth o mention that the rights of LGBT persons were presented in a separate chapter for the first time in the entire period of existence of the Ombudsperson’s office, under the section “Equality and non-discrimination”. The chapter also presents the issues of sexual harassment and sex-selective abortions, as well as the issues of people living with HIV and ethnic minorities.
The study of complaints addressed to the Ombudsperson also indicates the presence of intolerant or discriminatory treatment of LGBT people on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.
The document also highlighted the 51 cases of human rights violations documented by Pink Human Rights Defender NGO in 2023, 49 of which involved individual victims, and 2 were severe manifestations of hate speech directed against the LGBT community, violence appeals or justification. 22 of them are cases of domestic violence, and only 5 of the victims submitted their complaints to the police.
US Department of State 2023 report
The U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor released its annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices. Within this comprehensive review, the treatment of LGBT+ individuals in Armenia emerged as a critical area of concern.
The report brought attention to instances of police brutality and failures within law enforcement to adequately address numerous cases where perpetrators called for violence and attempted to “justify” violence against LGBT+ persons on the grounds of the victim’s sexual orientation or gender identity.
There were numerous attacks against transgender women, none of which resulted in conviction, including one incident in August, where a transgender woman was stabbed to death in her apartment in Yerevan. Then during a candlelight event in memory of the victim, a group of attackers threw eggs, bottles, and stones at the attendees, despite a nearby police presence.
The report also addressed the issues of Legal Gender Recognition, the absence of medical or government guidelines or regulations, and difficulties that people face in legally changing their gender marker or starting gender-affirming procedures.
