Armenia will sign Istanbul Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, head of Council of Europe’s Violence against Women Division Bridget O'loughlin said.

Armenia will sign the convention on January 18, she told reporters.

The Convention obliges the governments which have ratified it to take specific steps to counter all forms of violence against women: from stalking and sexual harassment to domestic violence, forced marriage and female genital mutilation.

The convention boosts measures of prevention and protection and should lead to an increase in the investigation, prosecution and conviction of perpetrators of violence, in each county where the treaty is ratified.