The main objective of Women’s Rights Center set in the framework of the current activity is to empower women-victims of domestic violence and their children by providing assistance to stop the cycle of violence and achieve independence and safety, self-sufficiency and a peaceful life free from violence.
To achieve the above-mentioned objective WRC operates the National Hot Line, Women’s Support and Drop-in Center and Emergency Shelter with comprehensive services. As a result of project activities the following outputs have been achieved: a number of won legal cases, awareness of the beneficiaries on their legal rights and ability to protect them, recovery of emotional balance and formation of self-assurance for their own strengths, success to overcome emotional and communicational problems of children who have been subjected to or witnessed violence. These achievements promoted women to surmount the victim syndrome and take decisive steps to step out the vicious cycle of domestic violence.

The National Hot Line
The aim of the National Hot Line service is to provide psychological and legal assistance to women-victims of domestic violence and raise awareness of the society about the issue. We also estimate the level of public awareness by the fact that more women apply to us having learnt the information from our beneficiaries. Apart from that, the service is designed to reveal cases of domestic violence as well as its causes and peculiarities in Armenia in order to work out measures to combat domestic violence and to provide adequate assistance to DV victims in the future.

The National Hot Line service provides not only one-time psychological assistance and legal counseling. The majority of cases are being continuously followed up; beneficiaries receive more intensive psychological assistance and wider range of legal services.

During 2009, the National Hot Line Service have registered 1010 calls 465 of which were primary and 545 repeated. 424 calls regarded psychological issues and 586 calls - legal matters. 435 (43%) calls of the total number were calls on domestic violence (238 primary and 197 repeated); 311 (71%) calls out of 435 concerned psychological domestic violence, 120 (28%) – physical and 4 (1%) sexual violence. Within the reporting period 238 primary cases of domestic violence were registered through phone calls, i.e. 238 women have applied for National Hot Line Service for the first time as a result of domestic violence. 151 (63%) cases of violence out of 238 were cases of psychological abuse and the 86 (28%) of them were cases of physical abuse were registered and 1 (1%) case of sexual violence.

Within the reporting period we have received 131 calls from the regions, 64 of which concerned domestic violence (39 – psychological, 25 – physical).

The Women’s Support and Drop-in-Center
In most cases, telephone conversation with the victim is not sufficient for providing full range of assistance to victims of domestic violence. For this reason, woman-victims are invited to the Women’s Support and Drop-in Centre (WSDC), where they are provided with individual psychological and legal assistance. The most important integral part of our work is personal face-to-face contact. As a rule WSDC specialists (psychologists and lawyers), depending on specifics of each case, work in a team; most of the cases require not only psychological but also legal assistance. Successful cases are the result of excellent and well-coordinated teamwork of the entire staff of WSDC.

In the course of twelve months, women and their children have visited Women’s Support and Drop-in Centre for 351 times, the 130 visits of the total number were primary and 221 visits were repeated. 140 visits were related to psychological and 211- to legal counselling. Among the 351 visits 268 (76%) visits related to domestic violence. Out of 268 visits 195 (72%) visits of women-victims regarded psychological abuse in family, 67 (25%) visits regarded physical violence and 6(3%) visits related to sexual violence. Out of 268 visits 117 visits were primary cases of domestic violence i.e. 117 women visited the Women’s Support and Drop-in-Center for the first time. Primary visits were of the following types psychological – 66 (56%), physical – 48 (41%), sexual – 3 (3%). 151 visits were repeating.
61 women have applied to the Women’s Support and Drop-in-Centre from regions. Out of these 61 visits 46 related to domestic violence: 25 concerned to psychological abuse, 20 - to physical abuse and 1 – sexual abuse.

Legal Service
Legal service includes counseling, composition of corresponding documents, applications, composition of written requests to receive information from governmental and non-governmental bodies regarding cases, as well as inquiries of information by phone, establishment of interrelations between the applicants and executive bodies and provide attorney’s assistance in Courts, etc.

The lawyers have been registered telephone survey – 97 and written surveys - 60.
The lawyers have presented different applications and mediatory papers to the courts as regards WRC beneficiaries’ legal cases – in total 27 cases.

The Emergency Shelter
The aim of the Shelter was to provide roof for the women and their children whose lives are in danger in their family and there is no place they can go to find temporary shelter. Often parents or relatives of such women do not accept them (who can in our country under current conditions feed another family for more than a day or two?). And they are not socially enough secured to rent an apartment and seclude to themselves, so they are obliged to live in violence which allows the one committing violence – husband or other member of family, to continue the violence with impunity.
The role of the Shelter is that women subjected to violence and their children, after getting shelter can throw off stress, stop thinking about “tomorrow’s bread”, overcome with fear, that the husband or other member of the family may beat, curse or throw them out of the house.

Operation of the Shelter is a crucial part of the given activity. Temporary sheltering of women victims and their children in the Shelter is carried out by special procedures. The procedure of accepting and filling in of all corresponding documents is realized according to WRC regulations.
In the course of 2009, 15 families were accommodated in the Emergency Shelter, in total 42 people, of which 15 women and 27 children (16 girls and 11 boys).