3rd grade in school № 1 in Odzun village named after missing Hrachya Saryan
11:15, February 17, 2016 | News, Own newsThe issue of missing persons has been raised repeatedly both by NGOs and by their families. Yet, since 1992, the issue of missing persons has received no solution, neither humanitarian, nor a legal one. The legal status of missing persons has remained unsolved so far, and the life of their families turned into endless waiting and desperate hope.
On February 12, 2016, 3rd grade in school № 1 in Odzun village, Lori Marz (Region) was named after Hrachya Saryan missing since April 20, 1994. The school held an event, with Hrachya Saryan’s teachers and classmates sharing their memories and expressing their respect to him. ‘Yerkrapah’ volunteer detachment of Tumanyan region awarded ‘Yerkrapah’ Armenian memorial medals to the mother of missing Hrachya Saryan and the mother of deceased freedom fighter Arshavir Kostanyan.
Unsolvable problem of missing persons
Despite numerous relevant recommendations submitted to competent agencies, the legal, social, health and other issues of missing persons have received no resolution for over 25 years. Particularly, no progress has been recorded in the adoption of the Draft Law on Missing Persons developed by a working group including the RA National Assembly, RA President’s Office, Ministry of Defense, Police, National Security Service, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs Security, Human Rights Defender’s Office, as well as the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly Vanadzor and proposing a final and comprehensive solution to the issues of missing persons and their families.
Under the Draft Law on Missing Persons, joint discussions were held, a number of changes and amendments were made therein and the Draft Law was brought into compliance with the international standards and finalized.
The drafting activities were completed back in April 2011, after which the draft law should have been considered by an interdepartmental commission to eventually enter the agenda of the RA National Assembly. Throughout drafting of the Law, the International Committee of the Red Cross provided expert support. For a long time, there has been no progress in final submission of the Draft Law on Missing Persons. Also, the recommendations on adoption of the Draft Law were not included in the Action Plan of the National Strategy for Protection of Human Rights. And the latest position of the authorities on ignoring this issue is considering the adoption of the draft law not urgent; HCA Vanadzor was informed of this by RA Ministry of Justice letter of August 4, 2015.
Hence, the fate of the draft law ‘wandering’ in various Ministries of the Republic of Armenia since 2005 also remained uncertain like that of the persons missing since the 1990s…
No less uncertain is the fate of the families of missing persons.
The family of Hrachya Saryan, missing since 1994, live in Odzun village, Lori Marz (Region). His father, mother and brother’s family occupy a half-constructed house. While they attempted to renovate their house and make it fit for living by their own efforts, neither the state of health, nor the financial situation of the men in the family made it possible for them to renovate the house. The used area of the house covers one room where the entire family stays; however, during thaws and rains, this room also becomes uninhabitable. Hrachya Saryan’s family expects the help of competent authorities and perhaps of kind people…
According to the data submitted by the International Committee of the Red Cross in 2015, the Organization’s offices in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Nagorno-Karabakh registered 4496 missing persons, with 405 of them from Armenia and 372 from Nagorno-Karabakh.
According to official data, in 1988-2005, the number of missing persons from Armenia is 437, including 224 servicemen and 213 civilians. As for NKR, the total number of missing persons is considered to make 723, with 250 servicemen and 473 civilians.