Armenia’s human rights record review in UN UPR process

Pink Human Rights Defender NGO, in collaboration with The Advocates for Human Rights, has prepared and submitted a shadow report to the UN Universal Periodic Review (UPR) regarding the human rights situation of LGBT+ individuals in Armenia. The report highlights key legal, social, and institutional challenges faced by the LGBT+ people in key areas such as education, healthcare, and law enforcement. 

The report highlights that despite previous recommendations, Armenia has yet to adopt a comprehensive anti-discrimination law explicitly protecting sexual orientation and gender identity. Although some progress has been made in legal frameworks, significant gaps remain, particularly in the lack of explicit inclusion of LGBT+ protections in the Criminal Code. Hate crimes and hate speech continue to be serious concerns, with law enforcement authorities often failing to address them adequately. Many cases of violence, including domestic violence, remain unreported due to victims’ lack of trust in law enforcement due to mistreatment, ineffective investigations, and fear of retaliation. In schools, LGBT+ students face bullying and discrimination, often with little to no intervention from educators. In healthcare, transgender individuals are particularly marginalized, with no access to gender-affirming medical care and bureaucratic barriers to legal gender recognition. 

Based on these findings, the report outlines key recommendations to the Armenian government. These include adopting a comprehensive anti-discrimination law that explicitly includes protections based on sexual orientation and gender identity, ensuring proper investigation and prosecution of hate crimes, improving data collection on hate speech and discrimination, and implementing sensitivity training for law enforcement and educators. Furthermore, the report calls for reforms in healthcare to provide gender-affirming services and facilitate legal gender recognition without invasive medical requirements. Lastly, it emphasizes the need for public condemnation of hate speech and political rhetoric that fuels discrimination against LGBT+ people. 

This shadow report serves as a critical reminder that Armenia must take concrete legislative and policy actions to ensure equal rights and protections for LGBT+ individuals and fulfill its international human rights commitments.