- Download document(PDF | 2.69 MB)
Context
A year has passed since the outbreak of the Nagorno Karabakh (NK) conflict in September 2020, which left over 90,000 people of NK displaced from their homes and relocated to Armenia. As of May 2021, the majority of these people have returned to NK , and those who remain (approximately 28,719 people ) are expected to stay for the longer term, due to the movement of their areas of origin (AoO) under Azerbaijani control and other factors (such as security concerns and socioeconomic challenges) that increase their vulnerability.
Additionally, the movement dynamics are still changing, though much slower than at the onset of the conflict outbreak and displacement to Armenia.
Most of the refugee-like population has settled in Yerevan, which hosts larger livelihood opportunities, in Syunik, which is the closest marz to Nagorno Karabakh, and which hosts the vital route connecting Armenia to NK, and in marzes adjacent to Yerevan, such as Kotayk, Ararat and Armavir. Relatively smaller shares of the refugee-like population remained in the other marzes – Lori, Shirak, Tavush, Aragatsotn, Gegharkunik and Vayots Dzor.
According to the latest data, most of the refugeelike population rents an apartment and a smaller share of the population lives with a host HH or in an own apartment. Nevertheless, there is still a share of the remaining refugee-like population living in collective centres/sites4 , conditioning these groups being among the most vulnerable.
Given the continued presence of refugee-like population, there is a need to make a shift to early recovery programming and development response after the completion of immediate emergency assistance, especially as the Inter-Agency Response Plan (IARP) is being updated for the duration till the end of 2021. An understanding of continuing conflict and displacement-related needs, and the data challenges in assessing them, must be considered in longer-term.
