Forcibly displaced people seek to resolve housing problem

ArmInfo.32 public organizations from Artsakh have formed an initiative in Armenia aimed at protecting the needs of internally displaced persons. Artak Beglaryan, former minister of state and former ombudsman of Artsakh, chairman of the Union for the Protection of the Rights and Interests of the People of Artsakh, stated this at a press conference on March 6.

According to him, the initiative is aimed at solving priority  problems facing the people of Artsakh, including solving their  housing problems, especially taking into account the program  discussed in the RA government to provide displaced people with a  roof over their heads. The initiative is still in its infancy, the  first step of which will be an open letter to the government of the  Republic of Armenia, which will indicate the problems that have  arisen related to the government program. The next stage of the  program, Beglaryan continued, will be the collection of signatures  for the text of an open letter, which will be submitted to the  country's Cabinet of Ministers in the very near future.

In turn, the head of the Union of Families of Deceased Artsakh  Military Personnel, Armen Atoyan, clarified that an open letter to  the RA government will be presented today, March 6. He noted that the  program of the RA government should be implemented based on the  principle of preserving the Artsakh community. The duration of the  program should be extended to two years with the involvement of  financial resources of international organizations and donor  countries in its implementation. To solve the housing problems of  each of the forcibly displaced persons, allocate 5 million drams as a  base amount, which corresponds to the average prices on the secondary  market in the regions of the country.

These funds must be transferred to all refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh  without the right to return the money. Taking into account the  difficult social situation of displaced people and the extremely  limited labor market, the initiative proposes that the RA government  take steps to prevent further increases in prices for residential  real estate, including through the construction of inexpensive  housing. The authors of the initiative also oppose the requirement  that refugees have Armenian citizenship in order to be included in  the program, which contradicts the principles of international  humanitarian law. The initiative also insists on the continuation of  the program of full financing by the Armenian Cabinet of Ministers of  payment for utilities consumed by internally displaced persons until  they are provided with housing. It is also proposed to provide every  Artsakh family with reasonable financial resources for the  acquisition of property.  Particular attention should be paid to the  families of the victims and disabled people of the first group.

The housing program developed by the RA government for refugees from  Nagorno-Karabakh provides for mandatory registration of Armenian  citizenship, but the announced amount in practice will not allow  people to purchase real estate. On February 23, the Armenian  government offered internally displaced persons from Nagorno-Karabakh  support in purchasing housing in border villages. The refugees  themselves stated that they did not want to live in border areas due  to problems with employment and security.