In recent days, many people from Artsakh have raised the issue that the embassies of a number of countries accredited in the Republic of Armenia (mainly European ones) refuse to process the applications from the people of Artsakh for an entry visa, in particular, to persons holding a passport with the 070 code.
According to the published information, the refusal of the embassies is explained by the fact that, based on the information published by the authorities of the Republic of Armenia, the embassy assumes that a passport with the 070 code is not actually considered a document confirming Armenian citizenship. If the citizenship is not clearly confirmed by the passport, it is impossible to accept or process the application.
This explanation of the embassies is extremely incomprehensible and reprehensible, because if the embassies are guided by the statements of the authorities of the Republic of Armenia and note that those statements assume that a passport with the 070 code is not actually considered a document certifying Armenian citizenship, then why do they ignore the fact that from the same statements it follows that a passport with the code 070 was provided to the people of Artsakh as a travel document? Additionally, by the decision of the Government of the Republic of Armenia of 26October 2023 “On the approval of the description of the identity document of a refugee who has received temporary protection and the procedure for its provision” for the temporary protection of persons forcibly displaced from Nagorno-Karabakh, the passport with the 070 code was recognized as the identity document of a refugee, and it was established that it is valid outside the territory of the Republic of Armenia when used together with a refugee certificate.
It should be noted that Article 28 of the Convention on the Status of Refugees enshrines the right of a refugee to free movement, in particular, noting that “the contracting States issue travel documents to refugees lawfully residing in their territory to leave their territory”, which are recognized and accepted by the Contracting States.
In fact, even if embassies do not consider the passport of the Republic of Armenia with the 070 code as such, these passports were recognized by the authorities of the Republic of Armenia as a travel document and should be accepted by embassies as such, and no obstacles should be created to the realization of the right to free movement enshrined in the Convention on the Status of Refugees.
At the same time, it should be noted that a number of embassies accredited in Armenia (for example, the USA) do not cause any problems in this matter and process visa applications for passports with the 070 code without any obstacles, considering them as a document confirming the citizenship of the Republic of Armenia.
I draw the attention of the embassies accredited in Armenia to the above-mentioned problem and look forward to the revision of their approaches to this issue, which guarantees proper and full respect and protection of the rights established by the Convention on the Status of Refugees.
Read also
Artsakh Ombudsman
