PH International

A hiking Tour to Goshavanq and More

Armenia | ZANG Armenian Legal Socialization Project | 6 Sep 2010


Success
On August 15, the Vanadzor Community Justice Center (CJC) team organized a hiking event for the CJC kids. The hiking program included visits to Goshavanq, meaning Monastery of Gosh named after famous Armenian scholar and priest Mkhitar Gosh, and the geological museum located in the village of Gosh and a nice picnic by the lake next to the village. In addition to the Vanadzor CJC juveniles, active SRB (School-Based Reparative Boards) members of Vanadzor secondary school # 5, as well as the CJC volunteers and partners participated in the event. The Vanadzor CJC team members facilitated discussions on offences and different types of punishment based on the code of laws written in the 12th century in the code of laws by Mkhitar Gosh and compared it to the modern criminal code of Armenia. The highlights of the day were trustful and friendly relationship observed between one of the offenders undergoing the CJC reparative process and the victim who suffered from the offence and who was also invited to hike with the group. Also, the CJC kids and the SRB members decided to make a film using one of the fables of Mkhitar Gosh. The film making idea created a great opportunity to develop long-term collaboration among the participants of the hiking event.

Overview

“Here is a question for you, guys,
‘What should be done with someone who steals from a church?’


‘Punish…’


‘Beat…’


‘Punish to death…’


‘Make the person ashamed and isolate...’


‘And in 12th century Mkhitar Gosh in his code of laws stated the following, ‘If a successor or any folk steals a candle or oil from the church, he should be punished fivefold… And no one, even in bad need is allowed to steal as theft is an offence, and if caught stealing, one should be punished…’ Now let’s see how it compares to the modern criminal code…”



This was part of the conversation taking place between the Vanadzor Community Justice Center (CJC) team and the kids on their way to an ancient Armenian Monastery called Goshavanq, meaning Monastry of Gosh. during the hiking event organized by the Vanadzor CJC team on August 15. In this way, the Vanadzor CJC team members sensitized the participants on different offences and the types of punishments and made comparisons between the modern Criminal Code of Armenia and the code of laws written by famous Armenian scholar and priest of the 12th century Mkhtar Gosh after whom the monastery was named. The participants of the hiking tour were the Vanadzor CJC juveniles, active SRB (School-Based Reparative Boards) members of Vanadzor secondary school # 5, as well as the CJC volunteers and partners. Among the guests invited were Leading Specialist of the Vanadzor Municipality Juvenile Foster Care and Trustee Board Lernuhi Gevorgyan, Academician of the National Academy of Science Mr. Kharatyan, and Professor of History from the Vanadzor State Teachers’ Training University Mr. Chatinyan. Participation of all these people successfully contributed to achieving one of the aims of the hiking event: to enhance the CJC kids’ feeling of being full members of their community. One of the highlights worth mentioning is that during the whole day the hikers witnessed trustful and friendly relationship between one of the offenders undergoing the CJC reparative process and the victim who suffered from his offence and who was also invited to hike with the group.



The hiking program included visits to Goshavanq and the geological museum located in the village of Gosh and a picnic by the lake next to the village. The second major component of the day program took place during the picnic near the lake. The CJC board members presented to the participants a few fables written by Mkhitar Gosh and facilitated a discussion on each of them. Then, Vanadzor CJC board member Gnel Hakobyan presented basic tips and principles of scenario writing and film making. As a result, one of the fables discussed was chosen based on which the CJC kids and the SRB members of the Vanadzor school # 5 SRB decided to make a film. The film making idea was another highlight of the hiking event which created a great opportunity to develop long-term collaboration among the participants. The film making project will start in September and will be a logical continuation and productive outcome of the hiking event.