On December 8, 2013, Round table meeting took place at the Headquarters of Armenian Red Cross Society, concerning the tracing and “restoring family links” activities carried out by the ARCS Tracing Service.
Representatives of public authorities, international and non-governmental organizations in the sector, in particular the International Committee of the Red Cross, National Archive of the RA, Civil Registry Agency of Ministry of Justice of the RA, Passport and Visa Department of Police of the RA, State Migration Service of Ministry of Territorial Administration and Emergency Situations of the RA, UNHCR and ARCS participated in the meeting.
Meeting was aimed at providing the stakeholders and cooperating parties with comprehensive information about the ARCS Tracing Service’s role and activities in RFL, discussing legal issues occurring during the aforementioned activities as well as drawing attention of the agencies to the significance of the activities aimed at Restoring Family Links.
The ARCS Tracing Service responsible Samvel Hunanyan welcomed the participants and emphasized the importance of such meetings as well as the support from the state agencies and regular contact with them aimed at carrying out the tracing and RFL activities, in light of the right of relatives to communicate with one another and be informed of each other’s whereabouts or fate.
Roles and features of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement in RFL, legal framework, as well as the role and areas of activity of the ARCS Tracing Service, as a component of the Family Links Network, were presented during the meeting.
Susanna Gasparyan, the ICRC Tracing Responsible, presented the part played by the ICRC in RFL, in view of its lead role within the Movement.
It was highlighted the importance of addressing timely and properly the needs of people separated from families as a consequence of nowadays topical migration. The sides discussed other issues of legal nature as well.
Participants raised various questions in reference to the Tracing Service’s structure, specifications of criteria for accepting tracing applications and some statistic questions. Some legal issues were discussed.
Parties mentioned that such meetings are important and vital for raising awareness and fostering further cooperation and process improvement.
