Country Profile Armenia

General Country Information

Summary

Armenia does not have a national women’s helpline, although there are regional helplines supporting women survivors of violence in every region of the country and there is a process underway to launch a national helpline. There are two women-only emergency shelters in Armenia with 24 beds for women and their children, and at least two other shelters which are accessible to women survivors, although the total number of beds is unknown. There are 11 women’s centres operating as domestic violence support centres as well as one sexual assault crisis centre for survivors of sexualised violence. Measures related to primary prevention are included in the country’s Strategy and Action Plan but there is no specific budget allocated to such activities. The state does collect data on women’s specialist services, including primary prevention activities, and this information is available upon request. The Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs partially subsidises domestic violence support centres. These centres are required to provide information on survivor demographics and other relevant information, such as the type of service provided.

Women’s Specialist Services

There is no national women’s helpline in Armenia although there is a process underway to launch a national helpline. The Ministry of Social Affairs runs a national helpline (tel.: +374 114 and +374 119) which is not specialised but can refer domestic violence cases to regional helplines, according to the location of the survivor. Therefore, Armenia does not meet the Istanbul Convention standards for the provision of a national women’s helpline.

There are 12 regional helplines specifically supporting survivors of domestic violence in Yerevan and across the 10 regions in Armenia. The helplines run by the registered domestic violence support centres are as follows: Women’s Rights House (tel.: +374 77570870); Martuni Women’s Community Council – Martuni (tel.: +374 94876502), Gavar (tel.: +374 94876505); Family Without Violence (tel.: +374 98092094); Sose Women’s Issues (tel.: +374 98848453), Resource Center for Women’s Empowerment (tel.: +374 77380053); You Are Not Alone – Vayots Dzor (tel.: +374 98886077), Ararat (tel.: +374 77802700); For Equality Human Rights Defender (tel.: +374 099788770); Youth Avanguard (tel.: +374 93574657); Talin-Huys (tel.: +374 91482035); and Women’s Support Centre (tel.: +374 99887808). The helplines are funded through donations and international funding. In 2024, the helplines recorded a total of 3,877 calls, of which 1,980 were received by the Women’s Support Centre. The most common forms of violence reported by callers to the helplines in 2024 where domestic violence, physical violence, and psychological violence.

There are two women-only shelters in Armenia with a total of 24 beds run by the Women’s Support Centre (WSC), a women’s NGO with a feminist and gender-specific approach, which operates as emergency shelters for survivors of domestic violence². Both women-only shelters offer 24/7 access, and women are not expected to pay for their accommodation in women-only shelters. On average, women and their children stay in women-only shelters for a period of two or three months, which WSC has found to be sufficient for survivors to begin the process of rehabilitation and reintegration into society. However, if there is a serious security concern that warrants a longer stay, WSC offer the service for as long as it is needed. The types of in-house services most often provided by the women-only shelters are casework, counselling/psychological support, referrals/collaboration with other services, practical advice, legal advice, and therapy. Shelters also offer self-help groups, life and parenting skills training.

The number of beds in Armenia is far below the Istanbul Convention standards. However, given the social norms around utilising emergency shelters, as opposed to relocating with relatives or finding other options, at the moment the number of shelter spaces is sufficient. The WSC has never had to turn away any women or children. However, as reporting patterns change and more women seek shelter accommodation, this may become an issue in the near future.

Both women-only shelters can be accessed by and are accessible to women with uncertain residence permits/undocumented women, refugee women, women with physical, cognitive or sensory disabilities, older women (65 years and above), women with older sons (14 years and above), women with children with disabilities, and unaccompanied girls under the age of 18. Neither of the women-only shelters can accommodate women with substance abuse issue, women with psychiatric diagnoses, or transgender women. For safety reasons and taking into consideration cultural norms and attitudes, WSC works with a partner organisation that can provide shelter support for transgender survivors. There is also a shelter for unmarried women with children up to the age of two, and one shelter for survivors of trafficking. These shelters can also offer accommodation to all survivors if the other shelters do not have availability.

Funding for the two women-only shelters primarily comes from foundation grants, international funding, and individual donors, as state funding only covers roughly 10% of the budget. The women-only shelters are located in Yerevan, meaning that there are no women-only shelters outside of the capital city and in other regions of Armenia. The main reason why women-only shelters had to decline referrals was the survivor being ineligible for support. The most common forms of violence reported by survivors to women-only shelters in 2024 were domestic violence, with psychological violence being the most prevalent. A large percentage of survivors had also experienced physical and economic violence, and a smaller percentage had experienced sexualised violence. A total of 274 women and children were accommodated in the women-only shelters in 2024.

There are other shelters in Armenia, that can provide support to women survivors of domestic violence. However, these shelters are for vulnerable families and survivors of trafficking and are not specifically intended to support women affected by violence. These shelters are available to all survivors.

There are 11 women’s centres in Armenia which operate as domestic violence support centres and provide services to all survivors of gender-based violence, primarily women and their children. All women’s centres provide counselling/psychological support, legal advice, financial and social welfare support/advocacy, housing advice, employment, referrals/collaboration with other services, and representation at court/police/social services. In addition, women’s centres also provide hygiene products and medical help. Only one of the domestic violence centres (Women’s Support Centre) provides emergency shelter support, and all centres refer to this organisation. However, some of the other centres offer financial support to women for their temporary housing needs. Additionally, all centres also offer specialised support to survivors of sexualised violence in the form of specialist psychological care, community awareness and education for prevention, and legal advice.
All women’s centres in Armenia can be accessed by and are accessible to women with uncertain residence permits/undocumented women, refugee women, women with physical, cognitive or sensory disabilities, older women (65 years and above), transgender women, and unaccompanied girls under the age of 18. There are no specialised centres supporting particular groups of survivors nor women survivors or those at risk of specific forms of violence in Armenia. However, women’s centres do have experience working with women with disabilities, refugee women, undocumented women, transgender and non-binary people.
Women’s centres are all run by women’s NGOs, and the majority of funding comes from foundation grants and international funds. Some funding for women’s centres also comes from national authorities. There is one registered domestic violence support centres in each region of Armenia. In 2024, a total of 1,939 women were supported by women’s centres.

In addition to the 11 domestic violence support centres, there are other centres providing support to women, although not specifically survivors of domestic violence, as well as centres supporting LGBTQI+ survivors of violence.

There is one sexual assault crisis centre in Yerevan, the Sexual Assault Crisis Centre (SACC), which provides crisis support and also runs a helpline (tel.: +374 77991280). When needed, the SACC can also provide healthcare services. The centre provides needs assessment, specialist psychological care, specialist sexualised violence advocacy services, community awareness and education for prevention, as well as legal advice. Funding for the SACC comes from projects financed by international organisations and donors. Besides the centre in Yerevan, SACC also has focal point NGOs in different regions of the country where specialists are trained to provide support to survivors of sexualised violence. The sexualised violence service is available to all survivors of sexualised violence, including women, men, children, LGBTQI+ individuals, and people with disabilities.

Public authorities do collect data on primary prevention activities and provisions on primary prevention are included in the 2025–2028 Strategy and Action Plan for the Implementation of Gender Policy in the Republic of Armenia. Section five of this Strategy and Action Plan does include a definition of primary prevention and focuses on creating a safer and more secure environment and society for all women and girls. However, there is no specific budget allocated to primary prevention activities. Available activities include feminist self-defence trainings, empowerment activities for girls and women, school-based primary prevention programmes, training for primary prevention practitioners, self-care activities, and awareness-raising campaigns or programmes. There is no evaluation of the impact of primary prevention activities in Armenia.

1. This number only includes the beds in the two women-only shelters run by the Women’s Support Centre (WSC). ↩︎
2. A transitional shelter for survivors of domestic violence opened in early 2025. This shelters is fully funded by one foundation grant. ↩︎