During the recent session of government, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan revealed the contents of a secret document. The document was about gender equality. The Prime Minister spoke about several reports, as well as the global gender equality report, which is about the issue of gender equality worldwide and sex-selective abortions. “We have serious problems here, and this is an unacceptable and intolerable phenomenon. This should not coincide with our current reality.”
Pashinyan noted that Armenia is in one of the highest places worldwide for the frequency of sex-selective abortions, but the majority of the population is comprised of women. “I once said publicly that, in one of our secret documents regarding national security, there is a section about the role of women and the current situation surrounding our understanding of the role women play. I want to emphasize that the report was written in 2014 and it said that our overall understanding of the role of women is a threat to our national security. This is important.”
The Prime Minister said that, when he wrote about this on his Facebook page, it caused an uproar. People were saying that this is falsified information. “I believe that the time will come when that section of the document will no longer be classified and we will be able to publish it.”
Minister of Health Arsen Torosyan also confirmed that this is a cultural issue that needs to be resolved through improving the role of women. No matter how many laws are enforced, such as laws banning doctors from telling parents the sex of their child or other bans, people will still find a way to have abortions in much worse manners.
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The minister said that positive results will be recorded in the upcoming years, and the basis for that is the government’s policy on the importance of the role of women.
Nelly Babayan
