Governmental Decision 747-N on the Primary Program of Shelter
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Unofficial translation. GOVERNMENTAL DECISION #747-N (20/05/2004) ON THE PRIMARY PROGRAM OF SHELTER PROVISION FOR REFUGEES DISPLACED FROM AZERBAIJAN IN 1988-1992 In accordance with the activities program of the Government of the Republic of Armenia, having the purpose of providing the refugees displaced from Azerbaijan in 1988-1992 with permanent shelter and taking into consideration the main directions of the on implementation of the strategic program on poverty reduction of the Government of the Republic of Armenia for 2003-2006, the Government of the Republic of Armenia decides: 1. To approve the primary program of shelter provision for refugees displaced form Azerbaijan in 1988-1992 in accordance with Annex 1. 2. To create and approve a coordination commission on meeting the necessary financial means and implementation of the primary program of shelter provision for refugees displaced from Azerbaijan in 1988-1992 in accordance with Annex 2. Annex 1 to the Governmental Decision #747-N (20/05/2004). PRIMARY PROGRAM OF SHELTER PROVISION FOR REFUGEES DISPLACED FROM AZERBAIJAN IN 1988-1992 I. INTRODUCTION From the issues of the refugees who forcibly migrated from Azerbaijan in consequence of the exacerbated ethnic contradictions and ethnic clashes and settled in the Republic of Armenia the issue of their shelter provision is of especial significance for the reason of its acuteness. With the purpose of dealing with this issue the Department on Migration and Refugees under the Government of the Republic of Armenia worked out a corresponding program which was approved with the Declaration # 56 (14/12/2004) of the Government of the Republic of Armenia. This program included shelter issues of all the refugees – victims of ethnic clashes who were forcibly evicted from Azerbaijan and found asylum in Armenia, however, deprived form the permanent shelter, and with the implementation of the program it was planned to solve totally the issue of shelter provision for refugees. However, during the previous three years the program has not been implemented because of the lack of necessary financial means. Taking into the consideration the difficulties of the implementation of such a general program from the perspective of both the large amount of necessary financial means (more than $50.0 million in dram equivalent) and the implementation deadline, it is more expedient not to solve the issue of shelter provision of refugees within one general program, but to divide it according to vulnerability and levels, working out separate corresponding subprograms, the implementation of which is more realistic. The Government of the Republic of Armenia, signifying the necessity of solution of the issue of shelter provision for refugees and proceeding from the mentioned considerations, included a provision on working out and implementation of a program on shelter provision for refugees displaced from the Republic of Azerbaijan and in need of accommodation in its activity program which was approved by the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia on 20/06/2003. The issue of working out the primary program for shelter provision of refugees is already included in the list of the measures providing the implementation of the activity program for the year of 2004 of the Government of the Republic of Armenia and proceeds from the strategic program on poverty reduction approved by the Government of the Republic of Armenia. By the decision # 430-A (10/09/2003) of the Prime-Minister of the Republic of Armenia an interdepartmental working group under the guidance of the head of the Department on Migration and Refugees under the Government of the Republic of Armenia was created, which worked out the primary program of shelter provision for refugees displaced from Azerbaijan in 1988-1992 (hereafter the program). II. THE OBSTACLES IN THE PROCESS OF THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE POLICY ON REFUGEE INTEGRATION In 1988-1992 in consequence of ethnic conflict more than half million Armenians were evicted from the neighboring Azerbaijan within only four years, from who 360.000 settled in the Republic of Armenia. According to the data of the survey conducted in 1997 the number of refugees residing in Armenia exceeded 310.000. From the very first days of the eviction the Government of Armenia and the local authorities conducted large-scale activities on reception, settlement and solution of other primary issues of the refugees. From the mid-1990s, when it became obvious that the safe and volunteering return of refugees in their previous residences is unrealistic, the Government of the Republic of Armenia adopted an integration policy towards them. Various international and public organizations, states and individual donors made their perceptible contribution to this process by implementation of numerous programs on the relief of troubles of refugees and reduction of socio-economic tension in the Republic. Despite the implemented activities the socio-economic conditions of a considerable group of refugees remain alarming. As the surveys show the level of unemployment among refugees is higher than the locals’ by 1.5, the number of businessmen is lower by 1.7, the number of persons with permanent jobs is lower by 3, in terms of availability of educational, health services refugees also yield the locals. The situation is especially alarming in the sphere of shelter provision. Presently about 10.000 refugee families are not provided with permanent shelter. The existence of the mentioned issues hinders the complete implementation of the policy on refugee integration of the Government of the Republic of Armenia. III. THE STATE OF THE SHELTER PROVISION FOR REFUGEES AND THE BASIS FOR THE PROGRAM The greatest obstacle for refugee integration is the shelter issue for the simple explanation that because of living in temporary dwellings lacking the elementary facilities and not having permanent shelter for 15 years after migration to Armenia the psychological feelings of residing in their native-land and establishing there is scarcely noticed among refugees. The truthfulness of the mentioned statement is proven by the reality that in the places of shelter building the mass naturalization among refugees takes place. Today the refugees not provided with permanent shelter are located in hostels, hotels, health resorts, rest-houses, schools, kinder gardens, hospitals, and administrative buildings of institutions and other places of public usage (hereafter temporary dwellings), live in containers, the apartments of relatives, other convenient accommodation or rent apartments. About 40% of the refugee families not provided with permanent shelter reside in temporary dwellings spread throughout the territory of the Republic, part of which is located in land plots. The temporary dwellings belong to various departments, and these dwellings have not been provided with necessary sums for the technical maintenance and service, in consequence of which presently their technical conditions are miserable and do not satisfy the minimal sanitary-hygienic requirements. Part of there buildings is extremely damaged and dangerous to live. In accordance with the program approved by the Governmental Decision # 682 (25/10/2000) “On solving the shelter issues of the residents of damaged buildings in the territory of the Republic of Armenia (except for the residences included in the primary program of the disaster zone reconstruction) subjected to demolition” 214 refugee families residing for 5 years and more in the buildings subjected to demolition and estimated by the Department on Migration and Refugees under the Government of the Republic of Armenia have to be provided with shelters under the state assistance, and 54 families from that number have already been granted such assistance. Until now the issue of shelter provision for refugees has mainly been solved by two ways: on account of the means provided by the state budget of the Republic of Armenia and with financial aid of international organizations. About 300 refugee families were provided with shelter with the means of the budget, and about 3.500 with the means of UNHCR, Governments of Norway and Germany. Unfortunately, state capital investment for shelter building is not considerably high and the problem becomes further complicated by the fact that there are thousands of local families in the Republic, also not provided with shelter. The presence of the unsolved shelter issue is one of the main reasons for the slow pace of the process for refugee integration in the Armenian society despite the similar ethnic background with the local population. The “passive” attitude of refugees towards naturalization in the Republic of Armenia is predetermined by the same reason. Despite the fact that in comparison with the period until 1999, when only 7.000 refugees were naturalized in the Republic of Armenia, during the last 3-4 years the number of naturalized refugees rose considerably and constitutes today about 65.000, the attitude of refugees towards this process still remains not “active”. This condition proves again the truthfulness of the reality that the main obstacle on the way of the refugee integration into society, which is the policy adopted by the Government of the Republic of Armenia concerning the issue of refugees, remains the presence of shelter issue in the line of other socio-economic challenges, which arises justifiable discontent of refugees and may significantly exacerbate the social tensions taking into consideration the proportion of refugees in the total number of the population. The simplest estimates provide evidence that in case of continuation of the shelter building for refugees with the pace of the previous years the issue may be completely solved in 40-50 years. Proceeding from the above-mentioned and taking into consideration the difficulty of solving the shelter issue for refugees within the framework of one program, as well as taking into consideration the general volumes and cost of the issue the present program has been worked out, according to which within 2.5-3 years the shelter provision issue for the most vulnerable families that live in temporary dwellings and containers will be solved.