1 / 12

On October 21, the RA NA Standing Committee on Protection of Human Rights and Public Affairs organized discussion, which related to the social-economic, legal, educational and other problems of the citizens residing in the Artsakh Republic, forcibly displaced from Artsakh and settled in Armenia. Members from the parliaments of Artsakh and Armenia, members from the Artsakh Representative in the Republic of Armenia and the NGOs took part there.

The participants of the discussion presented the Artsakh people’s problems and spoke about the pictures of their solution.

According to the Committee Chair Taguhi Tovmasyan, the goal is the discussion of the very important issues for the two countries, which have not been solved during one year. “We speak about the forcible displaced Artsakh Armenians, who have lost their living means, lodging, and until now there are people, who have a lodging problem. There are people, who have social most different and gravest problems, there are also people, who, yes, have overcome them, and they live in good conditions. However, today our goal is the raising of problems, but not the praising of what happened. There are many shortcomings, which should be solved long ago. I would like to know why,” she said.

To the observation of the deputy of the Justice Faction of the Artsakh Republic Parliament Metakse Hakobyan, there are problems, which are not solved until now, though there have been proposals related to it. “The problems were solved naturally, and today it is not understandable who want to return to Artsakh. One of the most important problems is the evaluation and grouping of the families’ needs, according to priority. We should be led by the principle of social justice, which has not been before and now. We should note that the social programmes non addressed and naturally implemented for one year resulted in wasting and extorting of huge amounts of money,” she said. In the MP’s opinion, the emigration from Artsakh is also the most serious problem.

The Executive Director of the NGO ‘Return to Kashatagh’ Karine Movsisyan, as well as others delivering speeches considered necessary to regulate the problem of the forcibly displaced Artsakh people’s status, the issue of their dwellings and financial support, as there are people, who could not receive social support. According to her, all rights of the displaced, including the right to living are violated.

The representatives of the NGOs considered necessary the solution of the issue of the status of the Artsakh Republic (AR) and touched upon the issues related to security.

“There is need to touch upon much more deeply the topics and make analyses. We see that the topic of Artsakh exists in parliament, but it does not satisfy us. The political stability and the certainty are important for us to understand the to which directions the two Armenian republics move and what agenda they have. The security is number one problem, but as you see, together with the peacekeepers we have accidents which are very concerning,” the Chairperson of the NGO De-Occupation of Hadrut Mary Davtyan said, adding that we don’t know when the problem of recognition of Artsakh will enter into agenda.

The Committee Chair Taguhi Tovmasyan has clarified that in the near future the Inter-Parliamentary Committee on Cooperation between the RA National Assembly and the AR National Assembly will be formed, and the issue on the Artsakh status supposes holding political wide debates.

As the deputy pf the RA NA With Honor Faction Tigran Abrahamyan has assessed, today the most important problem in Artsakh is the security, the restoration and modernization of the Defense Army. According to him, it is not clear what situation will be there after four years.

At the end of the discussion the participants highlighted the continuity of similar meetings, presented proposals and emphasized responsible officials’ participation in such discussions.