The Human Rights Defender presented
the success story of the citizen who applied to the Defender during the State
of Emergency.
“Often official texts do not convey
the real work and emotions we feel in our daily work, as human stories lie at
the heart of every case.
Immediately after the declaration of
the State of Emergency, a citizen applied to me and informed that his 8 and 15-year-old
children were left alone at home in Russia without parental care. Due to the
restrictions, he and his wife were not able to travel to Russia and the
children could not come to Armenia.
It turned out that before the
restrictions, our compatriots working in Russia entrusted the care of their two
minor children to their neighbor for a few days, came to Armenia for an urgent
issue, but the flights were canceled due to the State of Emergency. The
citizens of Armenia could not leave the country, and Russia allowed only the
entry of its citizens, while the neighbor could not replace the parental care.
I didn't even want to imagine what
would happen if we delay the support…
We immediately started to work in
different directions with the Ambassador of Armenia and the Commissioner for
Human Rights in the Russian Federation. We also informed the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs and Commandant’s Office. Several times a day, I and my staff
personally contacted our applicant, the children's father. Several times a day,
I and my staff were in contact with our applicant, the children's father.
Restrictions were also applied in
Russia. The children could not go out, go to store, buy basic necessities.
We started discussions with the
Commissioner for Human Rights in the Russian Federation and the Ambassador of
Armenia to Russia.
First, at my personal request, the
Commissioner for Human Rights in Bashkiria visited the children and provided
food.
We discussed with the Ambassador of
Armenia to Russia the issue of transporting children to Armenia by a charter
flight, but before that it was necessary to organize the transportation of
children to Moscow. We only had three days for all that...
My staff quickly prepared several
important documents. We sent them to Moscow, so that our Embassy could start
the process.
Afterwards we had a video call with
the Commissioner for Human Rights in the Russian Federation and discussed
cooperation issues with them. Our Colleagues from Russian Commissioner’s Office
helped us to find air tickets from Bashkiria to Moscow.
The Commissioner of Bashkiria solved
the problems related to the air ticket on the spot and also accompanied
children to the airport the next day and sent them to Moscow. Immediately after
the children’s departure, he called me and informed that the children were safe
and that he had "found" another passenger and asked them to pay
attention the children on the plane. Later on, this passenger called me and
informed that the children had already arrived in Moscow.
After that, thanks to the diligent
approach of the Armenian Ambassador to Russia, the representatives of our
Embassy met the children at the Moscow airport and organized their safe
night-stay in Moscow. The next morning, the children safely traveled to
Armenia. For the formulation of all documents, we had been in contact with the
Ambassador day and night. We exchanged information also during the children’s
departure and arrival in Yerevan.
Before the children’s arrival, I
received calls from the Head of the Armenian Health and Labor Inspectorate and
then, from the Ministry of Health. We discussed with our partners and reached
an agreement on how to organize the children’s transfer to isolation place and
the transfer of parents to them.
At this moment, children feel good:
they are in isolation with their mother for 14 days. Yesterday, I again talked
to their father and today, to the mother.
Every time we take a step closer to
reuniting children and parents, we get very excited because each of us could be
in that situation, and instead of those children, there could be our child…
P.S. In 2019, we received 13,140
complaints: behind all these cases are unique human stories.”
Հայերեն
