Sitting in twilight, almost invisible through the camera lens, a woman tells of her personal tragedy. Studies show that stories like hers are all too common.

"I am married with two daughters. My husband used to work; then he gave up his job and began using alcohol, playing cards. He sold all our furniture. He used to come home late and beat me; he slapped and beat the children as well."

Unable to bear it anymore, the woman found help at an NGO called Tsovinar Women against Violence.

The family is the most important unit of society, respected, even revered, in every country on earth. In Armenia , phrases like "sacred hearth" and "sacred home" are used in daily conversation. Perhaps this reverence is the reason that our society has been so unwilling, for so long, to admit that domestic violence exists in Armenia . But not acknowledging the problem means not having the will to fight against it.

For years, Tsovinar Women against Violence has been collecting information and studying evidence of domestic violence. Since October 2003, The organization has been working on a project with the Helsinki Association, funded by USAID, that aims to change the way domestic violence is viewed by law enforcement and the judiciary, and to protect the rights and the dignity of victims.

Tsovinar and the Helsinki Association have created a human rights protection network throughout most of Armenia. Tsovinar conducts monitoring in Yerevan and in the Lori, Shirak, Kotayk, Armavir, Gegharkunik, Syunik, Aragatsotn, and Tavush Marzes. Moniters include lawyers, journalists, psychologists, and human rights activists. Together the organizations provide psychological and legal assistance free of charge.

According to Dianne Cullinane, a USAID civil society specialist, d omestic violence is not an easy topic to approach in any country, and Armenia is no exception. When studies were carried out in 2000, it became clear that the situation here was worrisome. "We decided to provide funding to Armenian NGOs raising awareness about domestic violence," Cullinane says.

Anna Hakobyan, the chairman of Tsovinar Women against Violence, says that her organization has tried to get a picture of domestic violence in Armenia based on factual data and, of course, in comparison with other countries.

Domestic violence is a broad concept. The violence can be against a wife, a husband, or a child. It can be by parents against a daughter-in-law or son-in-law, or by a daughter-in-law or a son-in-law against the parents. But statistics show, internationally and abroad, that violence against women is the most common form.

Lawyer Ararat Margaryan, the director of the Vanadzor office of the Helsinki Association, agrees that women are the most frequent, but not the only, victims of domestic violence. However, no men, he says, have come to his organization for help, probably because men are unwilling to manifest weakness, or to share their domestic troubles with others. Project psychologist Karine Kocharyan points to the patriarchal nature of our society, explaining that it's hard to see the ruler as a victim.

"Men see themselves as owning women. They treat women as their property, that's why they are in command of the family's fortune, its fate,' says Varsik Hovhanisyan, a monitor in the Shirak Marz.

Naturally, women subjected to violence are afraid to speak about their situation outside the circle of close relatives. Marine Gevorgyan, a monitor in the Lori Marz, says that she met with many victims under conditions of strict secrecy.

And Tavush Marz monitor Ashot Vardumyan describes the difficulties they had when the started the project: "In the beginning it was very hard to do monitoring, people didn't believe in us, they didn't trust us, but gradually we gained their confidence." Because it's such a delicate matter, special training sessions were organized for the monitors.

In order to avoid the effects of domestic violence, we have to understand its causes. Ashot Vardumyan believes that a traditional stereotypic mentality is largely to blame. "People say, 'What kind of a man are you if you never beat your wife?' This kind of thinking exists among our men. Very often women think it's all right if their husbands hit them. They say, 'He is my husband, isn't he? So he hit me once, what's wrong with that?'"

According to Mikael Danielyan, the chairman of the Helsinki Association, violence springs from our way of life. When young people get married, they are forced by their parents to live with them; sometimes the bride or groom is selected by the parents themselves. Another frequent cause of violence is the unfortunate 'red apple' custom [in which the loss of the bride's virginity is celebrated]. In general, though of course not in all families, the children's future is in the hands of their parents, and this often leads to tragedy.

Varsik Hovhannisyan believes that traditional conceptions are distorted today by social conditions: "A man doesn't feel like a man. When he cannot provide his family's daily bread, it's a very hard situation to deal with; he becomes angry, and even some good people that I know lose their equilibrium and resort to violence out of despair, and this leads to the collapse of the family."

Ashot Vardumyan disagrees with this explanation, pointing that violence occurs in financially stable families as well.

"Studies show that domestic violence exists not within certain groups but in general," explains Dianne Cullinane. " Naturally, there are instances that aggravate domestic violence, for example, unemployment, various social hardships. They deepen the roots of domestic violence but there are no studies or facts showing that violence occurs only in such groups."

To be continued.