Country | Armenia |
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Optional protocol | on the involvement of children in armed conflict, on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography |
Safety | |
Corporal punishment | Corporal Punishment is legal in the home, some alternative care settings and day care. |
Overview of the child rights situation | In Armenia, the poverty rate is rising and many children are affected by poverty. In addition, the health care system is poorly equipped. In addition, girls are discriminated against on the basis of their gender and sex-selective abortions are carried out. These and other factors hinder the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. |
Female genital mutilation and reproductive rights | The Committee is concerned at the prevalence of discrimination on the basis of gender. It is particularly concerned about sex-selective abortion in rural areas. |
Discrimination | |
Racism, children belonging to a minority and indigenous children | The Committee welcomes that children belonging to minority groups have access to education and textbooks in their mother tongue. |
Situation of children with disabilities | The Committee recommends that the State party take measures for the deinstitutionalization of children with disabilities and provide them with alternative family and community-based care options and that Armenia allocate adequate human, technical and financial resources for ensuring the availability of early detection and rehabilitation services for children with disabilities, especially for children in the regions (marzes). The Committee further recommends to ensure that children with disabilities receive adequate support even after graduating from the care institutions, and ensure that children with mental disabilities are not placed in mental health institutions but are rather provided with adequate support and a place in the community. In addition, Armenia should continue its efforts to include children with disabilities in the mainstream education system, take immediate measures to ensure that service providers do not take fees for services that are free of charge and establish regular control of the quality of services and products provided. |
Situation of asylum-seeking, refugee and migrant children | The Committee recommends that the State party amend its Law on Refugees and Asylum Seekers to provide basic safeguards and ensure its effective implementation. It also recommends that the State party ensure that all children regardless of their status have access to education and remove administrative barriers for the enrolment of refugee and asylum-seeking children. Further, the Committee recommends that the State party amend its legislation to ensure that no children under its jurisdiction can become stateless as a result of its regulations and practices. |
Education | |
Free kindergarten | No |
Free primary and secondary school | No |
Health | |
physical health | The Committee urges the State party to ensure equal access to all health-care services, in particular, provide equitable access to health care during pregnancy, at the delivery, including access to Emergency Obstetric Care and care for the new-born during the neonatal period, and adequate resources to provide emergency services and resuscitations in rural areas. The Committee further urges the State Party to provide health institutions with adequate supplies and equipment, especially in neonatal departments, as well as training of staff, eliminate all informal fees for health-care services that are free of charge, and set up a confidential system for reporting and action in case of non-compliance. Armenia should also take measures to ensure that all health-care personnel responsible for health care for children are well qualified and well trained. |
Relation to other countries | |
Business sector | The Committee urges the State party to ensure that labour legislation and practices comply with the Convention, including effective implementation of existing laws, strengthen and involve labour inspectorates and establish child labour reporting mechanisms. The Committee further recommends that the State party ensure the prosecution of perpetrators of child exploitation with commensurate sanctions, and in doing so ensure that such reporting mechanisms are known to and accessible by children. |
Situation of juvenile justice | The Committee recommends that Armenia establish a holistic juvenile justice system, including juvenile courts, on the basis of a comprehensive legal framework, as well as diversion measures to prevent children in conflict with the law from entering the formal justice system and to develop more alternatives to trial, sentencing and execution of punishment such as community service and mediation between the victim and offender in order to avoid stigmatization and provide for their effective reintegration. Armenia should also take immediate measures to ban solitary confinement of children, which amounts to inhuman treatment, and take immediate measures that children in Abovyan and other prisons are provided with all basic supplies, hygienic items and clean beddings and that children in prisons are provided with proper education. |
Specific observations | The Committee regrets that the child poverty rate has increased due to the economic crisis, with children with disabilities being among the hardest hit. |
Additional background | Concluding observations on the third and fourth periodic reports released on 8 July 2013.More information about education in Armenia: https://www.unicef.org |
Last Updated (date) | 22nd of February, 2022 |