Тhe Foundation launched a process to document medical, psychological, financial and physical damages suffered by the affected population of Artsakh in the aftermath of the 2020 Artsakh War

In November 2020 Armenian human rights advocate Ms. Anna Astvatsaturian Turcotte, who is a former refugee from Baku and lives in the United States of America, informed the Human Rights Defender about an important Initiative spearheaded by her and her Foundation (www.Astvatsaturian.org).

We have learnt that the Foundation launched a process to document medical, psychological, financial and physical damages suffered by the affected population of Artsakh in the aftermath of the 2020 Artsakh War.

As Ms. Astvatsaturian informed, additionally to assisting the work of Armenia’s and Artsakh’s Human Rights Defenders, the purpose of the data collection was also to assist the Governments of Artsakh and Armenia and international humanitarian agencies, to learn the exact impact of the devastation in Artsakh in order to assist the impacted families. Information collected will be utilized in three potential ways:

▪ To establish a knowledge base to assess the need and to provide assistance to socio-economic rights to those affected families;
▪ To establish the legal framework for restitution of Armenians who suffered financial and personal loss during the 2020 Artsakh War; and
▪ To utilize the information collected to contribute to prevention of possible war crimes and crimes against humanity in the future.

The Office of the Human Rights Defender contributed to the Initiative by assisting in creation of the thorough questionnaire to collect the data and advised the project from its infancy. The Initiative is implemented in collaboration with the Association of Armenian Social Workers (AASW).

The Human Rigts Defender’s Office recently learned that the Foundation has already employed more than 100 staff members to conduct the interviews, interviewers who have been thoroughly trained by the Association of Armenian Social Workers and other organizations that partnered with Ms. Anna Astvatsaturian to offer subject matter expertise and training. Our Office also learned that in the first few weeks of the process nearly 11.500 families in Artsakh and 2500 families in Armenia have been interviewed.

The Human Rights Defender wishes Anna Astvatsaturian Foundation and its partners continued success. We support the work conducted by Ms. Anna Astvatsaturian and I look forward to receiving the detailed analysis of the data collected in the coming weeks.