By Zhanna Avagyan
Narine (name changed) grew up witnessing her father repeatedly beating and humiliating her mother. After getting married, she accepted violence as a natural part of family life. Sixteen years later, she decided to break this cycle of abuse. But leaving an abuser does not mean the violence ends.
At 17, Narine’s mother urged her to get married and leave her abusive father behind.
However, an equally harsh reality awaited her. In the early years of her marriage, Narine suffered psychological abuse from her in-laws. Her husband took away her phone and restricted her visits to her parents.
“Then it started—my husband, his sister, and my mother-in-law began ‘re-educating’ me. In their opinion, I had not been raised properly. I felt hurt and humiliated, but they told me this was just how family life was supposed to be,” Narine recalls.
Two years later, when she gave birth to her first child, the psychological abuse escalated into physical violence.
“My husband would beat me even for minor disagreements—for instance, if I scolded the children for not doing their homework,” she says.
Over time, Narine developed serious health issues, from chronic back pain to lasting hearing problems.
Her husband’s family frequently reminded her of her impoverished background, mocked her, and forced her to work non-stop—household chores, gardening, and exhausting daily tasks in the barn.
She also endured sexual violence and humiliation. Even during her second pregnancy, the brutal beatings did not stop.
An attempt at a new life
After eight years of suffering, Narine finally attempted to change her situation. She turned to the police, who refused to register her complaint, telling her, “He’s your husband. You should reconcile.”
Her second attempt was to leave home, but her family convinced her to return, promising that the violence would stop.
Nothing changed.
She began waiting for the right moment to take her children and escape. Her resolve strengthened when she learned that her father had killed her mother in another violent outburst.
But her plan never came to fruition. One night, her husband beat her so severely that she nearly lost consciousness. Her brother called an ambulance and the police.
Narine recalls her mother-in-law telling her she could leave, but the children would stay.
Emotionally and physically drained, she walked away—placing her hopes on a just court ruling. She spent a month at her childhood home before a relative offered her shelter and a job. She lived and worked there for four months before renting her own place and starting a new life.
However, the court dismissed her case, treating it as a standard divorce and rejecting her allegations of domestic violence as false and misleading.
Laws that fail in practice
Armenia’s legal framework is weak, with no proper enforcement mechanisms, says human rights defender Zaruhi Hovhannisyan. The 2013 law on “Ensuring Equal Rights and Opportunities for Women and Men” is largely declarative, lacking punitive measures. The 2017 law on “Prevention of Domestic Violence” also fails to address gender-based violence effectively, viewing the family unit broadly and including fathers, mothers, brothers, and children.
Beyond legal loopholes, gender-based disinformation, stereotypes, and stigma further fuel injustice.
Even after leaving her husband, Narine became the target of false rumors. Her ex-husband spread lies about her on social media and among relatives, accusing her of having mental issues, being unfaithful, and having multiple lovers.
Gender-based disinformation involves spreading false information about a person based on their gender to discredit and demean them. Narine became a classic victim of this tactic.
In court, the case was treated as a routine marital dispute, and custody of the children was granted to the father—based on the children’s testimony that their mother mistreated them.
Hovhannisyan says the police ignored Narine’s claims of repeated abuse.
“To regain custody, she could request a forensic psychological assessment to determine if the children were manipulated. But such an assessment costs $1,000–$2,000, which is an unbearable expense for a financially insecure woman,” Hovhannisyan explains.
Ani Kojoyan, a gender studies expert at UNDP Armenia, considers Narine’s case a textbook example of gender-based disinformation.
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