Armenia: Internal displacement in brief - As of December 2011
| Publisher | Norwegian Refugee Council/Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (NRC/IDMC) |
| Publication Date | 31 December 2013 |
| Cite as | Norwegian Refugee Council/Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (NRC/IDMC), Armenia: Internal displacement in brief - As of December 2011, 31 December 2013, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/53c3a7364.html [accessed 9 October 2022] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
It was unknown how many people remained internally displaced due to armed conflict in Armenia at the end of 2011. Neither IDPs nor returned IDPs were persons of concern to UNHCR during the year. The last study to estimate the number of IDPs was undertaken in 2004. At that time, the Norwegian Refugee Council and Armenia's State Migration Service found some 8,400 people still internally displaced as a result of the 1988-1994 war with Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh. During the war, at least 65,000 people had fled from Artsvashen, an Armenian exclave inside Azerbaijani territory, and from areas bordering Azerbaijan.
Most IDPs returned to their homes following the conflict, but the 2004 survey reported that some still had not returned to border areas because of the insecurity and the poor economic conditions, or to Artsvashen because the area had been taken over by Azerbaijani forces.
These IDPs' prospects of a durable solution remain dim without government and international support and assistance or any resolution to this conflict.
While those who returned to border areas did not have trouble repossessing their homes, there were still no mechanisms to restore Artsvashen IDPs' housing, land and property or provide them with compensation for damage and destruction. There were no remedies in place for violations of their rights which they had incurred in being displaced.
In 2011, IDPs received no targeted government or inter-national assistance. In March, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination urged the authorities to provide detailed information on their situation, including on their housing. By the end of the year, however, the government had still not secured funds for an IDP survey or a return programme. Nevertheless, it passed a decree at the end of the year to provide cash grants to IDPs from Artsvashen.
