Tuesday, 17 May 2011
Right Honorable High Commissionaire Antonio Gutierres,
Esteemed government representatives,
Excellencies ambassadors,
Dear representatives of international and pan-Armenian organizations,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Let me thank you for attendance of this conference. Firstly, I would like to brief you on the situation when our country had to withstand an unprecedented influx of refugees due to wartime challenges.
Over half a million Armenians were displaced from their permanent residences in Azerbaijan due to the Karabakh conflict of which 360 thousand found refuge in Armenia..
Our country went through another ordeal during those years – the destructive earthquake of December, 1988 which killed some 25.000 people, about 1/3 of Armenia’s territory was completely destroyed, 530 thousand persons went homeless.
The bombardments of Armenia’s border regions in 1992-94 left homeless 72 thousand internally displaced persons. As a matter of fact, the newly independent country shouldered the responsibility of housing over one million homeless people. From the very first days, Armenia used its best efforts to mitigate the sufferings of refugees.
All existing resources - hotels, rest houses, hostels, school and office buildings and other facilities - were used to cope with the problems facing the homeless. Some refugees found shelter with relatives, friends and even in the homes of strangers. Society was quick to respond to the needs of our compatriots. This made it possible to avoid the undesirable perspective of building tent towns and settlements for refugees.
In mid-1990s it appeared that the voluntary repatriation of refugees was not realistic for lack of safety guarantees. Armenia undertook a policy of inclusion for refugees in an effort to re-integrate them with the home society ensuring conditions for self-realization which in turn implied solution of a number of vital problems. These problems were various:
Social and economic
Political-legal
Spiritual - cultural
Moral and psychological
Mentality-related
Only complex approaches to all these problems might lead to definitive integration of refugees into Armenian society and as a result, the adoption of Armenian citizenship.
The legal-political framework dramatically changed with the passage of the law of Republic Armenia on refugees on March, 3, 1999.
A proactive public awareness raising campaign waged by public agencies, NGOs and, especially, the UNHCR field office came to quell the refugees’ citizenship-related fears. Due to large-scale propaganda efforts, the number of those refugees having adopted Armenian citizenship increased sharply to stand at 85 thousand at this point of time.
The number of refugees without permanent residence is still high in the country with aggravated poverty situation among them due to 2-3 times higher rate of unemployment. It is not by accident that refugees represent a separate target group in the PRSP and their housing problems are kept in focus by the government.
Some 6000 houses and apartments have been built thanks to the UNHCR and other foreign and international organizations since 1994 when the UNHCR started operations in Armenia. We express our gratitude to those foreign governments and international organizations that helped us cope with refugee problems. A special vote of thanks is due to Hayastan All-Armenian Fund and the Diaspora for valuable contribution to refugee problems.
In turn, the Government of Armenia is making significant efforts to that effect. Starting 2001, refugees can privatize free-of-charge those hostel premises occupied by them and over 1200 families have benefited from this arrangement so far.
Under another law passed in 2002, Armenian refugees were recognized to be the proprietors of those apartments built with the proceeds of international community-donated funds. The “Most vulnerable refugee household housing program,” as approved by the Government in 2004 stands out among many other programs implemented to that effect, which outlined a housing scheme for accommodation of 3470 refugee families living in public buildings and facilities.
Starting 2005, funds were envisaged in the State budget for the granting of housing certificates to those refugee families included in this program for the procurement of apartments. Unfortunately, no such funds were envisaged in 2010-2011 due the global financial and economic crisis and the housing problems of about 1200 families are still unaddressed. The needed amount makes nearly USD 45mn.
Dear colleagues,
The recent years’ political tensions that keep arising in different parts of the world and the multitude of new natural emergencies have been generating ever new streams of refugees. It seems to be quite natural for the international community to concentrate on the needs of those people hit by these new challenges. However, we expect that the standing problems will not be overlooked by the international community, including that of Armenian refugees.
This problem has been aggravated for the authorities of the Republic of Armenia in the post-crisis period due to the fact that we still have unsolved housing problems for about 4000 families in the disaster zone. The Government has allocated USD 250mn to this end using the proceeds of borrowed funds. This is why we are short of resources necessary for tackling the problems of needy households in the disaster zone.
I think it to be symbolical that this major conference coincides with the 150th anniversary of great humanist, outstanding Norwegian polar researcher Fridtjof Nansen. In 1918, in his capacity of first Commissioner of the League of the Nations on refugee affaires, Nansen rendered huge services to Armenians saving them from genocide. The Nansen passports enabled thousands of Armenian refugees to start a new life.
Noteworthy is that we are marking the 60th anniversary of adoption of the Armenia-acceded Geneva Convention on Refugees and the 50th anniversary of the Convention on Reduction of in 2011.
The tackling of most needy refugee families’ housing problems through joint efforts will be a significant achievement in terms of honoring the provisions of said international documents.
Once again, I would like to thank you for joining this forum and express confidence that the present gathering will help us cope with the problems facing refugees.
Thank you.
