On 8 and 9 July a workshop on Legal Protection of Refugees and Asylum Seekers was held in Tsakhkadzor. The workshop was organized in the framework of the project “Enhancing the Capacity of Human Rights Defender’s Office to Monitor the Situation of Refugee and Asylum-Seekers in Armenia’’ which is being implemented by the Human Rights Defender’s Office (HRDO) of the Republic of Armenia (RA) and the Representation of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Armenia.
In his opening remarks the Adviser to the RA Human Rights Defender, Sergey Ghazinyan highly appreciated the cooperation between HRDO and UNHCR in Armenia and stressed the importance of organizing such workshops. S. Ghazinyan referring to the events being implemented in the framework of the mutual Project, expressed his confidence that such events would contribute to the effective implementation and protection of the rights of refugees and asylum seekers.
During their speeches Senior Programme Associate of UNHCR in Armenia, Nver Sargsyan and Protection Associate of UNHCR in Armenia, Naira Marutyan referred to mandate of UNHCR in protecting the rights of refugees and asylum seekers as well. They highlighted the importance of close collaboration between HRDO and UNHCR in Armenia in protection of the rights of displaced population and monitoring the situation of asylum-seekers in Armenia.
The purpose of the workshop was to develop the capacities of HRDO’s respective representatives to protect the rights of refugees and asylum seekers. During the workshop, rights and obligations of refugees and asylum seekers, as reflected in the 1951 Convention and the national legislation and key principles of international protection of refugees, as well as issues regarding international and national legal frameworks of stateless persons’ protection has been discussed. the achievements and challenges in the sphere of refugee integration in the Republic of Armenia were also the matter of discussion.
Representatives of UNHCR in Armenia, State Migration Service of the RA Ministry of Territorial Administration and Development, “Mission Armenia” Social NGO and national expert presented the theoretical regulations and practical issues regarding the above mentioned topics. The representative of the RA Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Border Guard Troops under National Security Service also participated in the workshop.