REPORT Of the State Migration Service of the RA Ministry of Territorial Administration and Emergency Situations 2015 Migration policy and statistics The Service has worked consistently towards the effective implementation of the 2012-2016 Action plan for the implementation of the Concept of the Policy of State Regulation of Migration in the RA and the 2014-2016 Action plan aimed at the approximation of the RA migration legislation to international standards, including the approaches and principles adopted in the European Union and the Common Economic Area. The Committee monitoring the implementation of these Action plans has held four sessions in 2015. The Service continued to work towards the improvement of the migration legislation within the framework of the abovementioned Action plans. As a result, several legislative initiatives have been developed. In particular, the draft Law of the RA On making amendments to the Law of the RA On foreign nationals was drawn up with a view to filling in the gaps identified as a result of the practical implementation of the relations arising during the deportation and voluntary return of foreign nationals. At the same time, the RA Police attached to the RA Government has drawn up and put into circulation a new draft Law of the RA amending the abovementioned law. In order to avoid overlaps in the amendments to the Law, the two drafts were incorporated into one by the RA Prime Minister s recommendation No 02/2410/20954-15 dated 9 December. As a result of the implementation of the Action plan, the Service drew up the draft Law of the RA "On making amendments to the Law of the RA On refugees and asylum." This was needed for the purposes of clarification of the procedure of submitting an asylum request by the guardians of a child and the procedure of appointing a guardian to a child who is a foreign national or a stateless person. The draft was submitted to the RA Ministry of Territorial Administration and Emergency Situations with the note No 01/08/4772-15 on 1 December 2015, in order to be submitted to the RA Government. At the moment the draft is being discussed with the concerned authorities. In 2015, within the framework of the 2012-2016 Action plan, the Service introduced the system of receiving statistical data on foreign nationals and stateless persons who have received residence status in the RA, which allows receiving, on a biannual and annual basis, information about the number of the 1
persons who have received temporary, permanent, and special residence status, as well as the persons having a valid residence status as of the end of the reporting period. The information is generated by the countries of citizenship, gender, age groups, and grounds for granting the status. The report was included in the status report describing the socioeconomic situation in the RA published by the RA National Statistical Service. The 2012-2016 Action plan for the implementation of the Concept of the Policy of State Regulation of Migration in the RA is gradually coming to and end. An assessment of the current Action plan has been carried out with the support of the OSCE office in Yerevan and the local office of the Czech People in Need NGO. An Assessment report has also been drawn up where specific proposals are made for the development of a new action plan based on the new realities and the lessons learned. Maintenance of the new www.tundarc.am network system The www.tundarc.am network system was fully commissioned in 2015. The list of the officials of the state agencies responsible for the maintenance of the System has been developed. Training has been organized for the officials of the state agencies responsible for the maintenance of the System; the officials were trained on the procedure of processing the application of the citizens. The relevant authorities included in the network system by the requirements of the RA Government decree have introduced the necessary changes in their procedures of meeting the citizens, and the commitment to maintain the system was included in the job descriptions of certain specialists. The Service has ensured the amendments to the job description of the responsible civil servant in the SMS proceeding from the requirements of the decree. We have also worked actively towards raising public awareness about the existence of the system. The Mass Media have been used to this end, as have the RA consular offices and other diplomatic representations and the educational, cultural, philanthropic and other organizations of the Diaspora. In particular, letters about the features of the network system have been sent to 250 Mass Media outlets in 39 countries and 126 educational, cultural, philanthropic and other organizations of the Diaspora, with a request to inform as many RA citizens about it as possible. The logo of the system with a hyperlink has been placed on the official websites of relevant state agencies. The System has received 105 queries. 2
An individual page for the system has been created in Google Analytics which has been active since August 2015. It allows receiving statistical data about the number of visits to the website and their countries of origin. According to the data from Google Analytics, the System has been visited 4402 times since August 2015. The countries of origin are: Armenia, Russia, USA, Germany, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, India, Ukraine, Great Britain, Brazil, China, Canada, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, and Turkey. Maintenance of the website comparing money transfer tariffs The Service has closely cooperated with the Armenian office of the Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) in the development of a consolidated website comparing money transfer tariffs (http://sendmoneyarmenia.am). The website was developed in accordance with the World Bank certification standards. The website allows choosing a country from where the money transfer will be made and comparing the costs of using different money transfer systems, the speed of transfer, and other parameters which will allow the person making the transfer choosing the most appropriate option. The Concept of the Policy of State Regulation of Migration in the RA is based on the challenge of the state to minimize the negative effect of migration and to maximize its positive effect on the social life in the country. The website developed in the context of Migration and development is congruent with the policy adopted by the country. Reconsideration of access to RF The work towards reconsidering the entry ban of the RA citizens who have been banned from entering the RF started back in June 2014 and remained a priority for the State Migration Service of the RA MTAES this year. Looking for ways out of the situation, the Service came to an agreement with the Federal Migration Service of Russia back in 2014: the State Migration Service will continue to collect the requests of the RA citizens to remove the entry ban and send them to the Federal Migration Service of Russia together with the attached documents. The Federal Migration Service will consider the requests and make a decision about removing or leaving the ban. 3
The RA citizens have sent 7683 requests to remove the entry ban to the Federal Migration Service of Russia in 2015. A total of 6707 answers have been received. The number of positive responses was 3660 which amounts to 55% of the total. 645 of the rejections were about cases of deportation orders. Granting asylum to foreign nationals 312 foreign nationals have requested asylum in the RA through the SMS in 2013, including 104 persons from Syria. 177 persons were recognized as refugees and granted asylum. 87 persons were provided with shelter, including 57 in the "Reception center" SNCO, 6 in the dormitories managed by the Service, and 24 in the social houses. On 16 December 2015 the RA National Assembly adopted the Law of the RA On making amendments to the Law of the Republic of Armenia On Refugees and asylum which harmonizes the national legislation about the rights of the asylum-seekers and refugees in Armenia with international (specifically, European) standards, proceeding from the commitments of the Republic of Armenia undertaken within the framework of international conventions. Support to the persons forcibly displaced from the Republic of Azerbaijan in 1988-1992, and integration of refugees and long-term migrants The RA Government approved a priority housing program for the persons forcibly displaced from Azerbaijan by the decree No 747-N dated 20 May 2004. Since 2005, the state budget had been earmarking funds for the implementation of this program, and 1065 families have received certificates to buy apartments in the past years, including 718 families that have already bought apartments. At the moment, there are a total of 924 families (670 in Yerevan and 254 in the marzes) meeting the criteria set forth by the priority housing program approved by the abovementioned decree. It is estimated that around AMD 10 billion will be required for the resolution of this issue. Since 2009, the state budget has not set aside any funds for the implementation of this most important program. In this connection, section 2.4.6.4 of the RA Government action plan approved by the RA 4
National Assembly on 22 May 2014 provides for the following: Mapping will be done for the purposes of resolving the housing problem of the more destitute refugees forcibly displaced from Azerbaijan in 1988-1992, in order to recalculate their number and clarify their places of residence, and appropriate action will be taken to resolve the housing problem of the refugees step by step. In 2015, the Service started the process of resettling the families residing in the dangerous dormitories (danger level: 4) at Artsakh 4th 10/2, Yerevan, maintained by Dormitories SNCO of the State Migration Service of the RA MTAES. As a result, 31 refugee families are going to be given apartments. In the reporting period, 87 persons have applied with requests to determine the pension insurance record in accordance with the RA Government decree No 907-N On establishing a Committee determining the pension insurance record of the persons forcibly displaced from the Republic of Azerbaijan in 1988-1992, and on approving the agenda of the Committee dated 23 July 2009. The Committee has held 8 sessions. 62 of the requests were satisfied (including 10 partially satisfied requests), and 13 were rejected on different grounds. Since January 2015, the Service has received 45 requests for a dormitory room. The Committee established by the 24 September 2015 decree No 985-A of the RA MTAES for the purposes of arranging the procedure of granting vouchers to the refugees to receive dormitory rooms has held 5 sessions as a result of which 2 dormitory rooms have been allotted to refugees. Since January 2015, the Apartment allocation joint committee of the State Migration Service of the RA Ministry of Territorial Administration and Emergency Situations and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees office in Armenia has held 3 sessions and allocated apartments to 5 families in the integration center, 4 families in the building of the former Agricultural college of village Darbnik in Masis region (reconstructed as social apartments with funds from the UNHCR), and one family in the dormitory wing at Moldovakan 29-1. In the months of January December 2013, the Service has given certificates to 610 persons to be submitted to Passport offices in order to receive Convention travel documents or to extend their validity. So far, 74 366 refugees forcibly displaced from the Republic of Azerbaijan have obtained RA citizenship. In the reporting period, the refugee status of six persons has been cancelled after administrative proceedings initiated by the Service in the manner prescribed by the laws of the Republic of Armenia. A total of 730 families (1790 persons) reside in the seven dormitories maintained by the Dormitories SNCO of the SMS of the RA MTAES. They occupy 889 rooms. The number of refugee families is 518; the number of the local families is 212. In 2015, ten refugee families have privatized a total of 16 rooms. 5
In 2015, the Service has received around 230 queries from the RA Police PVO and RA Police PVO Passport offices for the purposes of providing RA passports. With the 27 February 2014 decree No 303-N On approving the action plan deriving from the National strategy for the protection of human rights, the RA Government has provided for work towards the integration of refugees and long-term migrants. In particular, point 8.3 of the decree provides for developing a draft legal act for the creation of favorable conditions for the full integration of the long-term migrants, refugees, and persons who have been granted asylum in the Republic of Armenia. The legal act is currently being drafted. Enhancing international cooperation on migration In 2015, within the framework of the readmission agreements signed with the EU countries and the Russian Federation, the Service has received 148 readmission requests about 265 people from the authorized agencies of Sweden, Belgium, France, Finland, Bulgaria, Poland, and the Russian Federation, and processed the requests in the manner prescribed. This includes 61 requests from Sweden (129 persons), 41 requests from Russian (62 persons), 24 requests from Belgium (36 persons), 18 requests from Poland (26 persons), two requests from Bulgaria (three persons), one request from France (five persons), and one request from Finland (4 persons). The majority of the requests from the EU countries within the framework of the Agreement was received from Sweden. The issues No 8, 9, 10, and 11 of the quarterly electronic newsletter on migration were published; these were sent to the representatives of state agencies on migration, international and non-governmental organizations, and Embassies. Letters to the SMS During the year 2015, The Service has received 3125 letters directly from citizens, and another 101 through different state agencies, including 20 complaints. 6
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