The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is mandated to lead and coordinate international actions for the world-wide protection of refugees and asylum seekers and solutions of their problems. UNHCR's primary purpose is to safeguard the rights and the well being of refugees and asylum seekers, as well as to seek durable solutions to their plight, and the main focus of UNHCR in Armenia is to promote local integration of refugees in the society.
UNHCR established its presence in Armenia in December 1992 in response to the request of the government of the Republic of Armenia for assistance to deal with the mass influx of nearly 400,000 ethnic Armenian refugees from Azerbaijan to ensure that their humanitarian needs i.e. basic health care, food assistance, winterization programme, psycho-social support, education, language and vocational training as well as provision of housing are met – so far UNHCR has provided more than 3,500 refugee families with permanent shelter since the beginning of its shelter activities in 1994.
During the past five years, due to the war in Iraq, some 1,000 persons applied for asylum in Armenia and were granted Temporary Asylum (TA) status. Although most of them are ethnic Armenians, they face constraints when trying to integrate in the Armenian society.
Ongoing Projects
Currently UNHCR deals with prima facie refugees from Azerbaijan, including naturalized former refugees of ethnic Armenian origin, refugees from Iraq currently holding Temporary Asylum (TA) Status and those, recognized through individual refugee status determination procedure, i.e. refugees and asylum seekers originating from countries other than Azerbaijan. UNHCR Armenia carries out part of its activities through its Implementing Partners (IPs).
The current activities of UNHCR in Armenia include:
- Basic Psycho-Social and Health-care Assistance UNHCR with its IP Mission Armenia (MA) continues to assist some 6,000 extremely vulnerable refugees and naturalized former refugees from Azerbaijan living in communal centers in Yerevan and Kotayk marz, as well as Iraqi refugees. Through the established mechanisms, bed-ridden, single, elderly, disabled and extremely vulnerable refugees receive basic social and health care assistance, social support, counseling and referral to specialized institutions.
In addition, psychological support, counseling and referral is provided through UNHCR’s IP, the Armenian Centre of Health and Education (ACHE) including individual and group counseling, peer support group education and psychological support to children to promote their school attendance and integration.
Through UNHCR’s IP, the Armenian Red Cross Society (ARCS), UNHCR provides basic social and material assistance to vulnerable asylum seekers. UNHCR in cooperation with ARCS continues to support and further develop the established mechanisms of the provision of assistance to asylum seekers to ensure that asylum seekers are treated in line with international standards.
- Social Housing for extremely vulnerable refugees Following the completion of two social housing projects in Yerevan and Darbnik in 2008, which ensured 59 social apartments for vulnerable Iraqi refugees, UNHCR continues to further develop the enabling environment for the beneficiaries of the social housing projects. Jointly with the main Government counterpart, the State Migration Agency (SMA), UNHCR is in process of developing and introducing the social housing building management and maintenance mechanisms and standards and advocates for the central and local authorities to assume more responsibility in the management of the social housing stock.
After intensive and joint work with other UN agencies (UNDP, UNFPA, UNICEF, UNIDO) the implementation of the "Sustainable Livelihood for socially vulnerable refugees, IDPs and local families" project funded by the UNTFHS started in April 2009 with the lead coordination role of UNHCR. Within the scope this project during 2009 UNHCR will remodel a former factory building in Kasakh village into a social housing building with around 50 social apartments to be allocated to vulnerable refugees, naturalized former refugees, IDPs and locals. The project activities are in progress and supported by the concerned authorities.
- Livelihoods During 2008 and 2009 two international consultants worked on the assessment of both rural and urban livelihoods of refugees in Armenia. Based on the assessments, a comprehensive strategy for addressing the existing gaps in the promotion of full economic integration of refugees, and concrete recommendations and project proposals for addressing those gaps will be developed. - Strengthening National Legal Asylum Framework Armenia ratified the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol in 1993 as well as all relevant Human Rights instruments. To ensure the implementation of the 1951 Convention, the Armenian Law on Refugees was adopted in 1999 (further amended in 2001, 2002, and 2004). Although the Refugee Law is quite advanced and developed, there were gaps which might create obstacles in the course of provision of practical assistance and protection to asylum seekers and refugees. In order to clearly define the gaps existing in the national legislation, in 2005 UNHCR, the Danish Refugee Council and SMA jointly conducted a comprehensive Gap Analysis on the Protection and Asylum Framework in Armenia. The purpose of the exercise was to conduct a study aimed at identifying the major gaps in the existing legal framework of the Republic of Armenia (RA) in the light of international standards. The gap analysis identified a number of significant gaps such as a variety of numerous, sometimes contradicting government decisions and decrees with regard to refugees and asylum.
Following the Gap Analysis exercise and in order to fill the gaps identified and to improve Armenia’s legal asylum framework, in 2006, a working group consisting of UNHCR and SMA was established to develop a new Law on Asylum and Refugees which incorporates the basic principles of refugee protection established by the 1951 Convention, as well as all specific developments which took place in this field after the ratification of the Convention, on both international and regional level, including European standards and norms. The new Law on Asylum and Refugees was adopted on 26 November 2008, was published on 14 January 2009 and entered into force on 24 January 2009. It regularizes most aspects of admission and treatment of asylum seekers and refugees in line with international standards, ensuring respect for the right to asylum and addressing national security concerns.
UNHCR assists the RA Government in implementation of the new law and in drafting amendments that will have to be made to related legislation.
- Capacity Building – SPCP-SC To enhance the institutional capacity of the Republic of Armenia in managing refugee protection and assistance and promoting durable solutions with regard to all refugees. Hence, within the framework of the Strengthening Protection Capacity Project – Southern Caucasus (SPCP-SC), at the end of 2008 UNHCR organized a two-day National Consultations workshop with the government, the EC, UN agencies, national and international partners, NGOs and beneficiaries. The updated report on the Analysis of Gaps in the protection of refugees and asylum seekers served as a fundamental document for the National Consultations, during which all stakeholders agreed on the remaining gaps and recommended strategies to remedy them. Upon prioritization of the gaps, UNHCR, in close consultation and coordination with all relevant stakeholders, will develop an action plan that identifies future key activities, projects, time frames and implementing partners to remedy the gaps identified in the immediate and longer term, as well as implementation modalities.
UNHCR, within the framework of the SPCP-SC project, renovated and expanded the reception centre for asylum seekers to bring it in closer conformity with the internationally recognized standards.
UNHCR further strengthened the capacity of the SMA through the SPCP-SC project by supporting the agency to develop new registration software in order to enhance the accurate storage and retrieval of refugee data. The new software is currently in its trial version and in the process of being tuned. - Legal Assistance and Counseling UNHCR continues to provide free of charge legal assistance and counseling for asylum seekers and refugees through one of its IPs, ensuring that protection is provided to individual cases and the right to asylum is respected. UNHCR also supports legal aid clinics of 4 universities that started to provide free of charge legal counseling to refugees and asylum seekers in 2008. Furthermore, UNHCR monitors the socio-economic and civil rights of asylum seekers and refugees, including naturalized former refugees with special emphasis on eviction threats from communal centers, privatization of UNHCR and Government constructed shelter, etc. - Identification of and Response to Sexual and Gender Based Violence amongst Refugees and Asylum Seekers in Armenia UNHCR through its IP Turpanjian Centre of Policy Analysis conducted a survey on forms and prevalence of SGBV among refugee/asylum seeker female population. The result of the analysis, focusing on protection risks faced by female refugees and asylum seekers, were discussed during a round table organized by the Women’s Rights Centre and published and shared with representatives of the government and the civil society, as well as among other international agencies.
- Promotion of Refugee Law/Capacity building Within its supervisory mandate enshrined in article 35 of the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, UNHCR is actively engaged in strengthening the capacity of government stakeholders (SMA, judiciary, law enforcement authorities) and civil society (NGOs, universities and academia) on refugee/asylum issues.
UNHCR established partnerships with universities and other academic institutions in Armenia to foster capacity building of law professors on asylum/refugee law. As a result, 8 universities included refugee law studies in their curricula.
UNHCR Yerevan continues to support the SMA to further develop and improve the national asylum framework through legal capacity-building activities, including joint Refugee Status Determination (RSD) interviews, regular discussions, guidance and training. A multi-language information leaflet has been produced and distributed to asylum seekers and refugees.
- Border management UNHCR continues regular border monitoring and training activities. ARCS’s regional units assist UNHCR in the monitoring of border crossing points and establishing of an early warning system. The Working Group on Border management, established in 2007, met regularly in 2008 and jointly discussed the elaboration of procedures for receiving and admitting refugees and asylum seekers indicating the respective roles and responsibilities of the agencies involved in border management. UNHCR in cooperation with SMA developed a “Checklist for identification of asylum seekers at the borders”, which apart from practical steps to be taken when meeting an asylum seeker, includes information on the basic international and domestic norms regulating the field.
Brief Summary of the 2005-2009 UNDAF Achievements
Legislation - RA Law on refugees and asylum Seekers entered into force on 24 January 2009
National Strategies and Programmes - To complement the government's housing strategy for socially vulnerable groups, i.e. refugees and naturalized former refugees, UNHCR promoted the implementation of the "Social House in Supportive Environment" innovative project in Armenia with the aim to enhance the social policy of the country. UNHCR facilitated two social-housing-pilot projects in Zeytun-Kanaker community in Yerevan and in Kapan in Syunik, funded by the Swiss Development Co-operation (SDC). These projects established homes for elderly people, where they are taken care of by foster families.
Strengthening National Capacity - Under the EC funded Strengthening Protection Capacity–Southern Caucasus project, analysis of gaps in the protection of refugees and asylum seekers was conducted and report published which served as a fundamental document for the two-day National Consultations organized in November 2008 attended by all stakeholders. - UNHCR further increased the capacity of the GoA to receive and accommodate asylum seekers in Armenia by expanding the reception facilities by remodeling/renovating the second floor of the reception centre in accordance with internationally recognized standards. - Asylum sensitive reception, admission, referral systems in border management were established, and series of training were organised for border guards and high level authorities to strengthen the border management. - With the support of the Government of Japan and the United Nations Trust Fund for Human Security in New York, assistance totalling USD 2,484,900.00 has been extended to the UN Agencies in Armenia i.e. UNHCR – the lead co-ordination agency of the project, UNDP, UNICEF, UNFPA and UNIDO for the realisation of ‘Sustainable Livelihood for Socially Vulnerable Refugees, Internally Displaced and Local Families’ project in Armenia the implementation of which started in July 2009.
60 new apartments were provided to Iraqi refugees in Darbnik village and living conditions of some 100 vulnerable families were improved through the installation of water/sanitation systems in Nor-Nork communal centre in Yerevan.
- Emergency winterization assistance provided to 700 temporary asylum holders from Iraq, mainly ethnic Armenians
Education and Training - The school construction in Vardanidzor village, Syunik marz was completed with the financial support of UNHCR, US Embassy, UK Embassy, UNHCR, UNDP and ASIF. - The construction of the school project at Ishkhanasar, where 90% of inhabitants are former refugees was funded by the Japanese Grass-Roots-Fund, UNHCR, ASIF and GoA. - Start up business and vocational training (computer and hairdressing) and Armenian and English courses were organized for refugees, Armenian language courses were conducted for Iraqi children and adults to facilitate their integration through overcoming language barriers. - Legal aid clinics of 4 universities started to provide free of charge legal counseling to refugees and asylum seekers. 12 universities were trained on refugee law and 8 universities included Refugee law studies in their curricula.
Economic Development - 17 loans were provided to refugees with an average loan size of USD 4,100
Health - Considering the peculiar health situation of refugees, particularly trauma and stress experiences, psycho-social, trauma counseling, stress relief activities were implemented through the Armenian Center for Health and Education NGO and the 'Gratsia' rehabilitation centre of the Armenian Red Cross Society. The Armenian Republican hospital of Yerevan was supported to continue providing free of charge health assistance to refugees.
Data collection and Monitoring - Country wide refugee census of refugees and naturalized former refugees - A new electronic registration system was established with GoA to ensure accurate data on refugees for vulnerability analysis and needs assessment of population groups of concern - SGBV survey on the forms and prevalence of sexual and gender based violence among female refugee population in Armenia was conducted and a round table was organised to discuss the findings and the recommendations published in the SGBV report
Implementing Partners:
National Counterpart: State Migration Agency (SMC) of RA Ministry of Territorial Administration (MTA)
NGOs: Mission Armenia (MA), YMCA Shelter, Armenian Red Cross Society (ARCS), Armenian Centre for Health and Education (ACHE)
International Counterparts: UN Country Team, Diplomatic Missions, USAID, SDC, CoE, OSCE, IOM, DRC, EU, EC, ICRC
