During a discussion on the death of the child in Khashtarak village of Armenia held by Media Center, leading specialist of the Division for Protection of Children’s Rights at the Office of the Human Rights Defender of Armenia Marine Avagyan said the death of the child in Khashtarak village is in the focus of the Human Rights Defender.

“What happened was tragic and painful, and it was another alarm about the fact that there are systemic issues in all circles at the state level, and this issue is in the focus of the Human Rights Defender,” she said, adding that there is a need to work on breaking the stereotypes in society since such incidents are a result of the society’s stereotypes.

Avagyan also stated that the cases of domestic violence are usually concealed and that competent authorities need to pay more attention to domestic violence in order to reveal the cases.

“Currently, the necessary activities for raising the level of awareness and legal awareness of the rights of children are not effective. Children also need to be aware of their rights, and efforts need to be made to enhance knowledge of parenting,” she said.

Touching upon guardianship and curatorship bodies, she stated that these bodies need to play a major role and voiced hope that this case will serve as an alarm for systemic changes. She also attached importance to inter-agency cooperation since it’s wrong to address the issue to guardianship and curatorship bodies.