Anna Melikyan participated in a public discussion on citizenship issues of forcibly displaced people from Artsakh

Anna Melikyan, Projects’ Coordinator at the Protection of Rights Without Borders NGO, participated in a public discussion held in Yerevan on March 25 on housing and citizenship-related issues of people forcibly displaced from Nagorno-Karabakh. The event was organized within the framework of the “Human Rights With and For Refugees” project, implemented by the Estonian Refugee Council with the financial support of the European Union and hosted by the Artsakh Union NGO.

The discussion was organized by the Yerevan Refugee Council and brought together representatives of state bodies, civil society organizations, and sector experts.

In her remarks, Anna Melikyan addressed a number of legal and practical challenges faced by displaced persons in the process of acquiring citizenship. These issues have been identified by Protection of Rights Without Borders in the course of providing free legal assistance.

She emphasized that the burden of state fees constitutes a significant obstacle in the citizenship acquisition process. In many cases, individuals must restore civil status records through the Civil Status Acts Registration (CSAR) offices, or, when this is not possible, resort to notarial services or court proceedings to establish the relevant legal facts. Each of these procedures involves the payment of state fees. In practice, individuals may need to restore or confirm several documents, and often multiple members of the same family must undergo the same process, creating additional financial burdens and complicating the ability to apply for citizenship.

Anna Melikyan proposed introducing amendments to the Law of the Republic of Armenia on State Duties to establish a privilege for persons forcibly displaced from Artsakh. The proposed amendment would exempt them from paying state fees both for the restoration of documents at CSAR offices and for the confirmation of related facts through notarial or court procedures.

She also addressed difficulties faced by male applicants from Artsakh after acquiring Armenian citizenship. Under Armenian legislation, men of conscription age must register with the military commissariat, and those who have not completed compulsory military service are required to fulfill this obligation. In practice, forcibly displaced men may face difficulties proving that they have already completed mandatory military service in certain cases, and establishing this fact can take time. When Armenian citizenship is granted, the document with the “070” code is automatically canceled, while a new passport is not issued until the above issue is resolved. Cases have been recorded where individuals remained without an identity document for a certain period, which creates obstacles to exercising their rights. As a possible solution, it was proposed that applicants be informed about this requirement in advance when submitting their citizenship applications, so that they can restore the necessary documents in a timely manner.