The Human Rights Defender and the representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Armenia discussed areas of cooperation.
On April 18 Human Rights Defender Kristinne Grigoryan hosted representatives of UNHCR Armenia Anna-Carin Öst and the Head of the legal department Andrey Aryupin.
Defender Grigoryan greeted the partners, noting that the Ombudsman institution appreciates the experience of effective collaboration with the UNHCR, what is more Defender expressed her commitment to the expansion of cooperation in a number of target areas.
In her turn, Anna-Karin Öst by presenting the mission of the UNHCR in Armenia highlighted that cooperation with the Ombudsman’s Office is based on values and similar missions, because both sides share the same goal of ensuring the protection of refugees, displaced persons, asylum seekers, and stateless persons.
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Human Rights Defender outlined a variety of issues affecting persons who have been displaced from Artsakh, which the Defender’s institution has registered during this time period, including through regional visits and private conversations with families by the Ombudsman.
Referring to legislative reforms intended to protect the rights of refugees, displaced persons, asylum seekers, and stateless persons the Defender Grigoryan presented the Constitutional Mandate of the Defender to submit opinions and proposals to the National Assembly and the executive body. In this context, Defender stated her willingness to be a link between UNHCR Armenia and the National Assembly in order to find institutional solutions to the identified legislative problems.
In her turn, Anna-Karin Öst appreciated the Defender’s intended working style of influencing at the legislative level which will prevent many issues. Moreover, the parties agreed to actively promote cooperation between Ombudsman’s Syunik regional and UNHCR’s Goris mission brunches, to gain a practical understanding of the issues addressing displaced people and asylum seekers in order to develop appropriate operational solutions.
During the meeting, the parties also emphasized the importance of fact-finding missions and public awareness campaigns, and they agreed to expand their cooperation in these as well as other areas.