There is no law in Armenia providing for criminal liability for domestic violence. The lack of such a law creates an atmosphere of impunity and is conducive to domestic violence. Although articles of a general nature providing for criminal liability for physical and sexual violence do exist in the Criminal Code of Armenia, it is in countries that have specific laws on domestic violence that a real decrease can be seen. The absence of a law is, indeed, a serious obstacle, but a low level of legal awareness, the stereotypical patterns of the traditional mentality, and excessive concern about what other people think are no less important.

According to Anna Hakobyan, the chairman of the NGO Tsovinar Women against Violence, the attitude of the state is very important. Her project, funded by USAID, has been stymied in its attempt to collaborate with state agencies by their dismissive attitude. "They have not provided us with any information," Hakobyan explains. "At first we tried to get some information from district police inspectors, but they told us that it was confidential."

"It's like they look at it with their hands over their eyes within the system of the Ministry of Interior," says lawyer Ararat Margaryan, the director of the Vanadzor office of the Helsinki Association. "They say, 'It's a home, a family; is it worth taking measures for just one slap in the face?' That's why a woman doesn't want to go to the law enforcement agencies."

"No legal framework regulating these relationships exists in Armenia ," Dianne Cullinane says." For example, there is no law allowing the victim of a domestic violence to apply to the law enforcement agencies and receive support. For the most part, when women go to the police, they are told: 'It's your internal problem, we can't do anything,' and they are just sent away."

Varsik Hovhanisyan, a monitor in the Shirak Marz, looks for the causes within family traditions. "From birth, an Armenian woman is brought up with the understanding that she has to be obedient, submissive, a subject to her husband, and that she can't defend herself; that is why she only appeals to law enforcement agencies in the extreme situations. I am against this. Women must be able to defend their rights."

Tavush Marz monitor Ashot Vardumyan believes that women do not appeal to the law enforcement agencies for two reasons - fear and distrust.

Mikael Danielyan, the chairman of the Helsinki Association, finds that it is very difficult to persuade a victim to resort to this measure. He believes it's a question of mentality.

But according to Dianne Cullinane, women don't defend themselves because they don't have the support of their environment. They need psychological support; they also need financial assistance since many victims cannot afford to hire a lawyer.

"The attitude of the society and of the state are both very important," Anna Hakobyan says. "In many countries, for example they get what is called a protective order. This exists in Poland , the United States, Canada ; if the violence lasts for several days a perpetrator is given a protective order - he is simply warned to behave himself."

In general, people don't take domestic violence very seriously, sometimes not even seeing it as violence or a violation of human rights. This attitude gives birth to myths that aggravate the violence and make society even more indifferent toward this vicious phenomenon. And the lack of a specific law also contributes to the society's negative attitude.

However, project lawyer Lusine Martirosyan believes that until a specific law is adopted, women can make use of the existing civil and criminal legislation of Armenia . She is prepared to give proper legal counsel to women who fall victim to domestic violence and to explain to them all the Articles from the Criminal Code they can use to defend themselves.

"If the violator knows that he will be punished for his actions, he won't do it again. If he knows that he will not be punished he repeats it again and again," Varsik Hovhanisyan says.

A woman doesn't leave a violent husband or doesn't appeal to the law enforcement agencies because children need a father. Undoubtedly, it is ideal for a child to have both a father and a mother. But children growing up in an atmosphere of violence begin to hate both their father for his cruelty and their mother for her weakness, and after some time the children may become violent themselves.

Domestic violence is usually perceived as a physical act, but very often it is preceded

or followed by psychological pressure. Any expression of abuse-be it rudeness, mockery, or unreasonable criticism - leads, over time, to stress, which in turn can give rise to a number of mental and physical illnesses. Verbal abuse destroys a person's dignity and can even drive one to suicide.

Anna Hakobyan, the chairman of the NGO Tsovinar Women against Violence, says that violence used once easily becomes a cycle, if nothing is done to prevent it.

According to Karine Kocharyan, a psychologist working on the NGO's domestic violence project, it is important to be able to distinguish the things that trigger abuse from its real causes. She says that very often women mistakenly believe that everyday trifles - like being late with a meal or the laundry - are the cause of the problem. But, Kocharyan explains, these are just excuses; the causes are deeper-laid. One underlying cause may be, for example, that the man feels like a failure, and needs self-affirmation; he views keeping his wife in submission or abusing her as a sign of his manhood.

Anna Hakobyan agrees, explaining that the main feature of violence is the desire to dominate, the abuser's desire to have the last word, and his inability to retreat or give in. "The abuser doesn't forgive, he can fly into a homicidal rage, then justify himself as being driven to it."

According to project lawyer Lusine Martirosyan, if there is an attitude of disrespect, there is violence within the family, and it ceases to function as a unit of society.

Many women endure violence for the sake of the family without realizing that within this tolerance, the family, as a viable organism, dies. Mikael Danielyan, chairman of the Helsinki Association, believes that only the victim can solve the problem of preventing and putting an end to violence: "If he or she is unable to solve the problem, no one can help, even if fifty NGOs are created, fifty projects are implemented, and fifty lawyers get involved. The first step must be taken by the victim."

But Karine Kocharyan says that initiatives by NGOs are important, since in Armenia today women don't even realize that they are being subjected to violence. "If a woman doesn't see that violence is used against her, if she doesn't perceive it as violence, it's difficult to say whether it is violence or not." Some women do recognize violence, but they somehow adjust to it, believing that's the way it has to be.

Kocharyan finds that though the number of pronounced cases of violence is not large, it is not small either, given the population of Armenia . She emphasizes that the two important components of a victim's behavior - awareness and the ability to take action-are completely different things.

Anna Hakobyan explains that a woman who is aware of her situation is very often unable to defend herself because she has to oppose an army of traditional thinking, an army made up of the husband's parents, the relatives, the people in her circle who believe that it is a wife's duty to endure.

To emphasize their weakness, victims of violence very often make excuses for their husband, pointing to bad habits or delusions which, says the psychologist, lie outside the framework of the woman's problems. In such cases an individual approach should be manifested toward the man, which is often impossible due to the lack of a favorable public atmosphere.

Hakobyan recalls that in the course of implementing their project, they sometimes succeeded in achieving tangible results, and in every such case the victim's self-awareness was the key. The work of the monitors, the effort of lawyers and psychologists mean nothing if the victim herself is not prepared to put this help to use in her own life. Hakobyan describes how one woman managed to solve their family's problems and achieve peace thanks to extraordinary tactfulness. "She did it. In this case, we didn't do anything."

Project participants speak mainly about women, but Mikael Danielyan points out that victims of violence include men, and most of all, children. Children are in the worst situation, directly or indirectly becoming victims of the unhealthy atmosphere in the family. They are also subjected to violence in utterly normal families, where the father and the mother are not at odds with each other, where there is no physical violence between them. In these families, children are often beaten by both parents, but for some reason this is not considered domestic violence.

According to Karine Kocharyan it is difficult if not impossible to identify cases of violence against children, as children cannot seek help from the available services on their own.

Domestic violence will stop if both victim and abuser recognize the reality of the situation, and try to find ways to change. Without awareness of their own behavior, and the will to control it, psychological, legal, and other measures will fail.