ARMENIA: NEED TO MONITOR PROGRESS TOWARDS DURABLE SOLUTIONS
Reuters
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Feb 23 2010
UK
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IDMC, November 2009 Some 20 years after the beginning of
Armeniaââ~B¬â~D¢ s war with Azerbaijan and related violence,
information on the remaining 8,400 people internally displaced is
scarce. People internally displaced by the conflict have received
hardly any government attention because other larger refugee and
internally displaced groups have made competing demands on the state
budget in a time of economic transition and crisis. International
organisations have also largely neglected their plight. The low public
profile and lack of registration and monitoring of these internally
displaced people (IDPs) and returnees have made it difficult to
estimate how many have achieved durable solutions.
IDPs and returnees face some of the same challenges as their
non-displaced neighbours, and some face additional particular hardships
including the loss of or damage to property, the unavailability of
property restitution or compensation mechanisms, the inability to
visit former homes and the continuing insecurity in border areas. Some
suffered psychological trauma during the war, depend on welfare and
are only minimally engaged in economic activities.
The remaining IDPs and returnees will not achieve durable
solutions until their specific needs are identified and addressed,
reconciliation initiatives established and, above all, a peace
agreement is realised. There is a need to support IDPs who have chosen
to integrate in their place of displacement, accelerate recovery in
border areas, create non-agricultural work for returnees and adopt a
national housing strategy giving special consideration to IDPs whose
housing was damaged or destroyed.