There is nothing worse than uncertainty....

August 30 is marked as the International Day of Missing Persons, which has also been initiated by civil society.

On August 31, 2009, Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly-Vanadzor organized an event devoted to this Day, which took place in Yerevan.

The aim of the event was to present the activities of HCA Vanadzor towards the solution of the problems of missing persons, as well as the course of the draft law “On Missing Persons.”
The relatives of missing persons, representatives of the Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the representatives of NGOs and media participated in the event.

The case of “Arabo” detachment and the missing persons of the 6th battalion of Shikahogh were presented as an example of the necessity for investigation into the circumstances of missing soldiers’ disappearance.
Extracts from the video material (placed on www.youtube.com last year) on “Arabo” detachment were presented during the meeting, where it is clearly seen what was the fate of the Armenian soldiers like. The video material proves the necessity for investigating into the missing persons’ fate. The organizers and the parents are sure that the circumstances of missing soldiers’ death should be studied at state level and the relatives of missing persons should be provided with the results, which will ensure their right to get information.

The fact of disappearance of the soldiers from the 6th battalion of Shikahogh on January 7, 1994, was presented as well. “It is easier to get information at least on this fact”- mentioned A. Sakunts in his speech. According to him the state should conduct a thorough investigation into this problem in order to find out how it happened that those people disappeared and there has been no news so far, thus day by day uncertainty grows...


J. Baghdasaryan, head of department in the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, as well as a member of the State Commission on missing persons, hostages and prisoners of war, mentioned that the commission is currently conducting investigation and the relatives of missing persons will be informed about the results. She also underlined the importance of revealing the circumstances of the soldiers’ disappearance and death and informing society about it.

Arthur Sakunts says that as long as there is no concrete information about the circumstances of missing soldiers’ disappearance, the problem will remain on the agenda.
Information on the course of the developments of the draft law “On Missing Persons” worked out by HCA Vanadzor and by V. Dallakyan, Member of Parliament of Armenia, was also presented to the participants of the event. It was also mentioned that V. Dallakyan had sent the draft law to the Armenian delegation of the International Committee of the Red Cross.
It should be noted that a working group is being established by the initiative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with participation of the representatives of relevant Ministries, which will work on the draft law “On Missing Persons.” A number of legal and social problems of missing persons and their relatives will get their solution with the adoption of the law.
The event was organized by Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly-Vanadzor within the framework of the project “Inclusion of the law “On Missing Persons” in the Agenda of the National Assembly” with the support of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.