Your trusted source

Around 40,000 people of Artsakh have been left homeless in the wake of the recent war, outgoing Artsakh Ombudsman Artak Beglaryan told a news conference on Wednesday, elaborating on the primary issues that require urgent solutions.

He first called attention to security issues. “First of all, the objective risks must be reduced. The Defense Army is working on it. Naturally, Russian peacekeepers also play a key role here. But the National Security Service and police must take all possible measures to reduce security risks and fill the gaps. Open communication with the public is also important here, as some problems are of a subjective nature, conditioned by psychological and information risks," he said.

According to Beglaryan, the second problem is that there are many people left homeless. Up to 40,000 people have been left homeless due to the Azerbaijani occupation of the Artsakh territories during the hostilities.

"Most of those people are already in Artsakh. They have very serious needs, first of all they need to be provided with housing and psychological support. The problem of temporary housing still needs to be resolved, and those people will be provided with apartments under the long-term program," he said.

Beglaryan, who tendered his resignation on Tuesday to assume a new position in the government system, said he can better contribute to overcoming the crisis in the country in the new role.

Separately, the ombudsman said that due to the efforts of the fact-finding mission of the Human Rights Ombudsman’s Office, two more reports on the crimes committed by Azerbaijan during the war will be released today.

"In general, I consider the fact-finding activity to be nearing its end, although fact-finding activity in other areas is still needed. There is a need to summarize the collected data and present it in reports. But I am convinced that the Ombudsman's Office and the next ombudsman will proceed with this work, and the staff will continue to work on human rights issues in the country," he said.

Artak Beglaryan assured that although he is leaving the post of ombudsman, he will continue to defend human rights. He noted that he will deal with various tasks in the executive branch.

Although Artak Beglaryan did not reveal the position he is going to assume in the government, he said that he will deal with short-term crisis management issues.

“A task has been set to take urgent steps to resolve at least those problems that can be resolved in a short period of time. As for medium and long term programs, reforms need to be planned and implemented. And I am ready to embark on this reform process,” he added.