Armenia’s Human Rights Defender’s Office works to end sexual harassment with EU support

The Human Rights Defender’s Office of Armenia is taking serious steps to end sexual harassment in the workplace with the support of the EU-funded EU4Gender Equality Reform Helpdesk.

Sexual harassment is unwanted behaviour of a sexual nature that has the purpose or effect of violating a person’s dignity, creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment, and which seriously impacts the well-being of those affected. It has no place in society or in workplaces. In Armenia, persons who experience sexual harassment can apply to the Human Rights Defender’s Office (HRDO) for advice and support.

The EU4Gender Equality Reform Helpdesk began cooperating with the Human Rights Defender’s Office of Armenia in the summer of 2022 by providing training on crisis support for cases of domestic violence, and advancing a gender-sensitive approach among HRDO’s staff. Building on this successful cooperation, the Reform Helpdesk undertook a comparative analysis of international and national legislation on preventing sexual harassment, at the request of the Human Rights Defender’s Office, and has developed an analytical paper based on this analysis. The paper, ‘Compliance of national legislation with international legislation/standards on prevention of sexual harassment’, provides detailed policy recommendations and will be available on the Reform Helpdesk’s online library very soon.

The Reform Helpdesk also supported the process of designing and printing materials for a social campaign on combatting sexual harassment in Armenia, which is one of the most important areas of work for the Human Rights Defender’s Office of Armenia. The campaign will be organized by the Office in the near future, marking a significant contribution to the state’s commitment to ongoing Labour Code reforms to end sexual harassments in the workplace.

The EU4GenderEquality Reform Helpdesk project, funded by the European Union and implemented by Niras, aims to ensure effective and equal results for women and men across Eastern Partnership countries – including Armenia – by expanding the use of gender analysis in decision-making and reforms.

Learn more about EU support for gender equality

EU4 Gender Equality Reform Helpdesk – Factsheet on the Reform Helpdesk’s support (2021–2022) for Armenia

EU5Gender Equality Reform Helpdesk – Gender Equality Library