of December 23, 2008 No. ZR-211
About refugees and shelter
Accepted by National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia on November 27, 2008
1. The law of the Republic of Armenia "About refugees and shelter" (further – the Law) governs the relations connected with recognition by the refugee, provision of shelter in the Republic of Armenia and also provides application of the Convention on the status of refugees of 1951 (further – the Convention), its Protocol of 1967 and recognizes the right to the petition of shelter of all foreign persons and persons without citizenship in the territory of the Republic of Armenia and in Items of crossing of Frontier of the Republic of Armenia, and also on asylum if they meet the necessary requirements established by this Law for provision of shelter.
2. This Law according to the principles and rules of international law provides also protection of all foreign citizens and stateless persons against deportation to the country of their nationality or the former permanent residence or to any other country in which they are threatened by danger to be to the subjected tortures, brutal or to degrading treatment.
3. If the ratified international treaties of the Republic of Armenia establish other regulations than provided by this Law, then regulations of international treaties are applied.
1. The shelter is the protection provided to the foreign citizen or the stateless person in the Republic of Armenia which guarantees application in its relation of the principle, the stipulated in Clause 9 these Laws, and also all rights granted by the Convention, this Law and other legal acts of the Republic of Armenia to persons recognized as refugees in the Republic of Armenia.
2. The shelter established by part of 1 this Article extends also to the foreign citizen or the stateless person who are recognized as refugees other state if they in accordance with the established procedure arrived to the territory of the Republic of Armenia and have the status of stay established by the legislation of any Republic of Armenia granting the right to residence.
3. Provision of shelter shall be considered in the Republic of Armenia as the peace and humane act, and it shall not pass into the unfriendly relation as it does not imply any criticism concerning the country of nationality or the former permanent residence of the refugee or any other country.
1. In case of acceptance by the Government in the procedure for the resolution on provision of temporary protection established by this Law the shelter in the Republic of Armenia can be granted to groups of foreign citizens or stateless persons which left the territory of the state according to the nationality or the former permanent residence for the reasons specified regarding 1 article 6 of this Law.
2. The rights and obligations of the refugees who were granted asylum in the Republic of Armenia according to the individual procedure - without passing in the procedure for the individual procedure established by this Law extend to persons specified regarding 1 this Article, and the exception, the termination and the announcement invalid recognitions by refugees and provisions of shelter is performed according to this Law - according to the provisions and procedures established for the refugees who were granted asylum according to the individual procedure.
1. Voluntary repatriation is return of person petitioning for shelter or the refugee to the country of his nationality or the former permanent residence which is performed with assistance of the representative state body in the sphere of migration and nationality (further – authorized body) according to the procedure, the stipulated in Clause 60 these Laws.
2. The principle of voluntariness shall be respected by all competent authorities concerning questions of shelter and the refugee and it means that person petitioning for shelter or the refugee:
1) are informed on provision in the country of their nationality or the former permanent residence and is able to make the conscious decision on return;
2) made free choice between return to the country of the nationality or the former permanent residence or stay in the territory of the Republic of Armenia before removal of the final decision according to their petition for shelter or derecognitions by the refugee.
3. All competent authorities concerning questions of shelter and the refugee within the competence shall promote voluntary repatriation of the refugee or person petitioning for shelter based on the application submitted person petitioning for shelter, the refugee or Management of the High Commissioner of the United Nations for refugees (further – VKB UN).
1. Person petitioning for shelter is foreign citizen or the stateless person who submitted the petition for shelter in the Republic of Armenia according to part 1 of article 13 of this Law.
2. Person petitioning for shelter also person recognized as the refugee any state which signed the Convention, the given petition for shelter in the Republic of Armenia according to part of 1 this Article is considered.
3. The foreign citizen or the stateless person which submitted the petition for shelter in the territory of the Republic of Armenia before removal of the final decision according to their statement for provision of shelter are considered as persons petitioning for shelter and use in the Republic of Armenia all the rights of persons petitioning for shelter established by this Law.
1. The refugee is considered:
1) the foreign citizen who owing to reasonable concerns to be subjected to prosecution for belonging to certain racial, religious, national, social group or for political convictions is out of the country of the nationality and cannot use protection of the country of the nationality or does not wish to use such protection owing to such concerns; or who, without having nationality and being out of the country of the former permanent residence, cannot or does not wish to return to it owing to such concerns;
2) the foreign citizen who is forced to leave the country of the nationality, and the stateless person – the country of the former permanent residence owing to the total violence, external aggression, the internal conflicts, mass human rights violations or other serious events disturbing the public peace.
2. For person having more than one nationality, the concept "country of his nationality" means each of those countries which citizen it is. In this case person is considered lost protection of the country of the nationality if it for the reasons specified in Items 1 and 2 of part of 1 this Article cannot use protection any one of the countries of the nationality.
3. Also foreign citizen or the stateless person who are officially acknowledged refugees other states which signed the Convention are considered as refugees.
1. The spouse, the child up to 18 years and other person which is under the care of the refugee who was granted asylum in the Republic of Armenia also are considered as the refugees and persons who were granted asylum in the Republic of Armenia if they live in the Republic of Armenia together with this refugee and have no nationality of any other country providing effective protection, the refugee, other than nationality.
2. Other relatives of the refugee who was granted asylum in the Republic of Armenia or relatives of his spouse can be also considered as the refugees and persons who were granted asylum in the Republic of Armenia if they live in the Republic of Armenia together with it, are under the care of this refugee and have no nationality of any other state other than nationality of the refugee providing effective protection.
3. According to requirements of article 6 of this Law parents, brothers and sisters up to 18 years, and also incapacitated are more senior than 18 years brothers and sisters of the child recognized as the refugee and who was granted asylum in the Republic of Armenia are also considered as refugees and they are granted shelter in the Republic of Armenia if they live in the Republic of Armenia together with the child who received the status of the refugee and have no nationality of any other state other than nationality of this child providing effective protection.
4. The refugees who were granted asylum in the Republic of Armenia have the right to reunion with the members of their family specified in parts 1 and 3 of this Article in the territory of the Republic of Armenia according to the procedure, the stipulated in Clause 54 presents of the Law.
5. The status of the refugee received according to parts 1, of 2, and 3 these Articles is declared by members of the family of person which received the status of the refugee invalid if the status of the refugee of person which provided the general petition for shelter on behalf of family is declared invalid. Members of the family of this person do not lose opportunity directly after that to provide the petition for shelter, based on the personal reasons.
6. The status of the refugee received according to parts 1, of 2, and 3 these Articles members of the family of person which received the status of the refugee stops if according to article 53 of this Law the status of the refugee of person which provided the general petition for shelter on behalf of family, except for the case provided by part 2 of article 10 of this Law stops. Members of the family of this person do not lose opportunity directly after that to provide the petition for shelter, based on the personal reasons.
1. In this Law the following basic concepts are used:
1) persons petitioning for shelter and refugees with special needs - in the context of this Law the children petitioning for shelter, either children refugees, or persons with disability or expectant mothers, or the single parents having minor children, or the faces having serious illness or faces with problems with mental health or the victims of trafiking either tortures, or rapes, or other types of violence;
2) the child without attendant – the foreign citizen or the stateless person which did not reach 18 years which in the Republic of Armenia does not accompany any full age person sponsoring them;
3) the child separated from family - the foreign citizen or the stateless person who did not reach 18 years who are accompanied in the Republic of Armenia by full age person however the child is separated from parents or person sponsoring him based on the law or according to tradition.
2. Concerning persons petitioning for shelter and refugees with special needs, the child without attendant or the child separated from family the general procedures on shelter provided by this Law are applied if other is not provided by the ratified international treaties of the Republic of Armenia, this Law or other laws. Children without attendant or the children separated from family have the same rights what are established for persons petitioning for shelter or refugees if other is not provided by the ratified international treaties of the Republic of Armenia, this Law or other laws.
Disclaimer! This text was translated by AI translator and is not a valid juridical document. No warranty. No claim. More info
Database include more 50000 documents. You can find needed documents using search system. For effective work you can mix any on documents parameters: country, documents type, date range, teams or tags.
More about search system
If you cannot find the required document, or you do not know where to begin, go to Help section.
In this section, we’ve tried to describe in detail the features and capabilities of the system, as well as the most effective techniques for working with the database.
You also may open the section Frequently asked questions. This section provides answers to questions set by users.