75 foreign citizens seek asylum in Armenia

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 6, ARMENPRESS. 75 foreign citizens have applied for asylum in Armenia during 2016, and only 40 were granted, who were citizens of Syria, Iraq, Iran and Ukraine, Petros Aghababyan, head of the asylum department of the state migration service of the ministry of territorial administration and development told ARMENPRESS. According to him, the asylum seekers are mainly ethnic Armenians, there are also Iranians and Arabs. Since the beginning of the Syrian War, more than 20 thousand Syrian-Armenians arrived in Armenia, however only 1200 applied for a status of refugee.

“A three-month period is defined by law for discussing the applications, during this period a decision is made whether or not to grant asylum to individual applicants. Applications of those who have arrived in Armenia as reulst of war, for example our compatriots of Syria, are discussed by an accelerated procedure. I can say, refugee status was in most cases granted to our compatriots who applied to us”, Aghababyan said.

According to him, in order to have the right of protection of the Republic of Armenia, some grounds are necessary: persecution for political views, religion, race, social group. War operations, which resulted in citizens leaving their country and are unable to return, can also be considered grounds. In such cases a refugee status is granted. Aghababyan said the indicator of received applications has decreased compared to the previous year. Last year 315 applications were received. The seekers were again from the same countries : Syria, Iraq, Ukraine, Iran.

Since 1988, 3500 people have applied for asylum in Armenia. 2800 were granted asylum. They are mainly ethnic Armenians, however representatives of other nationalities are also among them: Cameroon, Benin, Ivory Coast and others.

“When a citizen is applying for asylum, we temporarily accommodate him in a special facility. The citizen remains there until the discussion of the application is completed. If after denying asylum the issue is appealed in court, then he continues to remain in the facility. During this period the individuals are provided with food”, Aghababyan said.

According to him, several legislative changes were made with the purpose of harmonizing the rights of asylum seekers with European standards.