Armenia’s bishops and diocesan leaders have issued a statement on the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (Istanbul Convention), as reported the Information System of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin. The statement reads as follows:

“Over the past weeks, the public has been widely discussing the goals, main provisions and resolutions of the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (Istanbul Convention) signed by the Republic of Armenia in January 2018, as well as the expediency of its ratification in the future.

The Church welcomes every initiative, including a legal document called for ruling out violence in the family and in another social environment. Any manifestation of violence is condemnable.

Violence and any evil must be fought against through actions that won’t be a reason for committing a new sin or a new evil act. In this sense, certain ideas and concepts in the Convention are strictly troubling and unacceptable.

The resolutions and their interpretations that prescribe other options of gender other than the two biological genders are incompatible with the moral teachings of the Church. These definitions recognize even the right of a person to “gender identity”. The Christian Orthodox perception of human rights and freedoms rules out distortion or change of the identity of a human being created by God.

Taking into consideration the subtext of the Convention of “gender identity”, what is also seriously doubtful and gives way to interpretation is the demand from member states to “eradicate prejudices, customs, traditions and all other practices which are based on the idea of the inferiority of women or on stereotyped roles for women and men” (part 1 of Article 12 of the Convention).

The Convention also instructs to “take the necessary steps to include teaching material on issues such as equality between women and men, non-stereotyped gender roles”, but it doesn’t specify the terminology to teach the material.

The approaches of the Convention to gender also contradict the unchanged doctrine of the Church regarding family on which our understanding of family as a nation is hinged. Armenians have always paid homage to a woman with the example of St. Mary, appreciated the role and mission of a woman in the family and in public and national life. A family through the unity of a man and woman, established on the foundation of love, mutual respect and understanding, is one of the main guarantees of the eternity of the nation, the upbringing and spiritual uplift of an individual and the formation of a citizen who will be responsible for the State. Consequently, the actions for preventing and combating domestic violence need to be based on the nature and value of the sacredness of the family.

Thus, taking into consideration the fact that there are strictly troubling provisions and concepts in the Convention from the perspective of our national-spiritual identity and security interests, we urge the relevant bodies of the Armenian government to refrain from ratifying the document.

The Church, with its pontifical mission, will continue to provide care and support to Armenian families to overcome the obstacles in family life and become strong.

Our prayer is that Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ guards our nation, warms our families with strong and everlasting love and helps our country grow.