Caucasus

Armenia's Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs in Yerevan. The Ministry has been actively working in recent years to create a foster care institution: child care and protection centers are being liquidated, and with the funds raised, the crisis centers of child care and the number of foster families are increasing, both in the capital and in the regions.

Armenia’s Growing Foster Families

Ministry of labour and social affairs promotes alternative to placing vulnerable young people in orphanages or children’s homes.

20 May 22

Azerbaijani journalist Ayten Mammadova was assaulted in the building where she lives in the capital Baku, an threatened at knifepoint by an unknown man who warned against reporting over an ongoing trial.

Azerbaijani Journalist Threatened Over High-Profile Trial

Rights organisations maintain that systematic lack of action in investigating such crimes serves to empower perpetrators.

13 May 22

Ukraine Crisis Imperils Abkhazia

Experts believe that Moscow is now aiming to divert resources, given the heavy costs of its ongoing invasion.

9 May 22

A recent protest in Yerevan against the government's changing stance on Karabakh. © Arshaluis Mghdesyan

Armenians Protest Against Government Shift on Karabakh

Anger over potential plans to drop the decades’ long demand for territory’s independence.

3 May 22

VTB Armenia, a subsidiary of VTB Bank, one of Russia's largest financial institutions, is feeling the bite of sanctions introduced against Russia in the wake of the invasion of Ukraine. Sanctions are impacting Armenia's economy, which is tightly interlaced with Russia's. © Arshaluis Mghdesyan

Sanctions Hit Russian Investments in Armenia Hard

Russia accounts for 40 per cent of financial outlay, and some companies are already suffering.

27 Apr 22

Lilit Martorysyan is Armenia's most propminent transgender activist. In 2019 she addressed the Parliament, calling for protection and respect for her community. Her brief and healt-felt speech prompted political and diplomatic arguments, but it also marked a landmark step for LGBTI rights in the country. © Mania Israyelyan

Armenia: “I Was Born in a Body That Was Not Mine”

Country’s most prominent transgender activist describes her struggle to protect her community from discrimination and violence.

31 Mar 22

Nikoloz who turned 18 a few months ago has Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), which impacts his communication skills and is often expressed in limited and repetitive patterns of behaviour. © IWPR

Georgia: Autistic Adults Left Behind

While children have access to free therapy, treatment centres are not equipped to support adults.

28 Mar 22

After thousands of computers used to mine cryptocurrency overwhelmed the power grid in Georgia’s mountainous region of Svaneti at the height of winter, 200 residents gathered in the medieval church of St. George in Mestia, Svaneti's main centre, to take an oath on the ancient icon of the saint that they would never mine cryptocurrencies. © IWPR

Crypto Mining Overtakes Georgian Power Grid

Svaneti residents turned to ancient rituals to fight electricity shortages caused by virtual currencies.

24 Mar 22

An elementary school in Armenia's Syunik province. Parents shoulder a significant burden to ensure that their children receive proper schooling, with some experts assessing that a third of the average Armenian household expenditure was on education-related costs. © Mania Israyelyan

Armenia’s Education Gap

Parents are forced to shoulder a significant burden to ensure that their children receive proper schooling.

24 Mar 22

An internally displaced woman from Abkhazia hangs laundry from the window of her room in Kartli.

Georgia: IDP’s Death Reopens Debate Over Housing

Hundreds of thousands of displaced people have been living in dire conditions for decades.

22 Mar 22

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