In 2025, Rights Centre NGO implemented the project “From Training to Impact: Enhancing Report Submission Skills for Armenian NGOs,” which aimed to strengthen the capacity of Armenian civil society organizations to prepare and submit high-quality human rights reports to international mechanisms, including the Council of Europe, the Universal Periodic Review, and the UN treaty bodies. The project included trainings, mentoring and submissions of the alternative reports on human rights issues to the international bodies. Within this framework, Rights Centre NGO in cooperation with Women Resource Centre NGO submitted an alternative report to the UN Working Group on Discrimination against Women and Girls.
The alternative report identified the following structural challenges:
- Reproductive health and rights
Although abortion is legally available up to 12 weeks in Armenia, mandatory waiting periods and limited access to services, especially in rural areas, create disproportionate barriers, contrary to obligations under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. Armenia lacks a comprehensive, rights-based sexuality education program, with existing curricula falling short of international standards. Discrimination in reproductive and maternal healthcare persists.
- Discrimination in the world of work
Armenia has one of the widest gender pay gaps in the region, with women earning 25-30% less than men and an overall gap exceeding 39%, driven primarily by discrimination rather than qualifications. Legal protections remain insufficient, as the Labor Code does not fully align with International Labour Organization standards, and enforcement, wage transparency, and gender-sensitive job evaluation mechanisms are lacking. Occupational segregation and the unequal burden of unpaid care work further reinforce pay disparities.
- Violence against women and girls
Although Armenia has adopted legislation on the prevention of domestic violence, implementation remains weak. Protection orders are often revoked, access to shelters is limited outside Yerevan, funding is insufficient, and gender stereotypes persist within law enforcement and the judiciary, contrary to international standards. Sexual violence remains widely underreported and rarely prosecuted due to stigma, secondary victimization, and breaches of survivors’ privacy. Armenia has yet to ratify the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, despite repeated recommendations from international human rights mechanisms.