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A meeting was held with Stepan Safaryan, the head of “Heritage” party, on March 3, 2010 within the framework of the project “Formation of Young Peacebuikders’ Brigade” implemented with the support of the British Embassy in Armenia.

The goal was to discuss the reports made on the results of the monitoring of the problems of conflict victims in Armenia. The reports also present recommendations for the solution of the problems of refugees, former prisoners of war (POWs) and the relatives of missing persons.

At the beginning of the meeting the coordinator of HCA Vanadzor, Artur Sakunts,  presented briefly the contents of the reports and the importance of the solution of the mentioned groups’ problems from the viewpoint of humanitarian law.

Stepan Safaryan attached importance to such initiatives and especially to the role of NGOs. He appreciates the bilateral Armenian-Azeri contacts, which help to prevent the restart of the war and give hope to solve the problem with political ways. Such projects are very important and have more obvious results.

“Being aware of the analyses of Karabakh conflict, I can say that no matter how many analyses are done, a complete analysis is impossible to do, because even it is not very clear what consequences the conflict had in terms of social, psychological, economic aspects. Abolishing those consequences is complicated, we do not see any wish, and everybody goes on playing with the rules of some game and none of the parties benefit. The society is depressed and is in an atmosphere of fear. The unsolved conflict had its impact on politics, too.”

Getting familiar with those groups the young peacebuilders pointed out that all of them needed state support. They are displeased with the fact that the state remembers them only when they want to, but then it again forgets about them.

Speaking about the missing persons and their problems, Artur Sakunts said that the state did not reveal the circumstances because of which people had disappeared. Mr. Safaryan added that missing persons are a part of the big cost paid for the war. He told about researches that other countries do trying to make clarifications in this issue. For instance, a girl from Bosnia and Herzegovina, with whom Mr. Safaryan got acquainted at one of the international meetings, deals with DNA analysis. This is very hard work and it is a hope for the relatives that one day they can find at least the body of their missing relative or even the remains of the body. The others deal with restoration of memories for the future generations.

The study showed that for the POWs the major issue is the absence of a separate status, their occupation, restoration of their health and psychological assistance. Related to these problems, Mr. Safaryan said: “We do not have relevant psychologists who can work with such people. The status can be regulated by the legislation and it will define privileges for them.”

The young peacebuilders mentioned that the main issue for the refugees is the solution of their housing problem and integration into society. In spite of the long time, society does not accept them. The refugees also regret for gaining citizenship. All the 26 surveyed refugees are not considered refugees any more as the Republic of Armenia provided them with citizenship. By getting a citizenship they were deprived of all the privileges they had. On the one hand the refugees were integrated and on the other hand they were deprived of assistance.

One of the young people mentioned: “At the beginning there were 200 refugee families in the village of Karin and now there are only 40-50 families. Everyone left and they were resettled without taking into account the conditions.” The refugees live in unfavourable conditions, most of them live in hostels.

For the solution of refugees’ employment problems A. Sakunts suggested adopting legislative norms, by which while employing a refugee, the employer will pay less taxes. Then he added that even if the problem does not get a solution, it will at least be on the agenda.

Mr. Safaryan welcomed such initiatives and promised that they will take steps for the solution of the abovementioned problems.