The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe called upon Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia to find a legal status for the refugees on the basis of international humanitarian law. “The situation of refugees and displaced persons in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia continues to be an obstacle for the development of these countries in economic, socio-political and health terms. Efforts to find a solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict have not as yet produced results. Border incidents still occur, the fate of missing persons has yet to be solved and landmines continue to cause injury and death. There remain urgent humanitarian needs which are becoming ever more difficult to satisfy as donor fatigue sets in. Urgent humanitarian needs, however, must be increasingly supplemented by international development aid to provide a future for the refugees and internally displaced persons in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia. There are, however, some positive signs that the three countries are moving forward with the local integration of their refugees and displaced persons, thus allowing these people to regain their dignity and prepare for the future,” says the Report of Committee on Migration, Refugees and Population Rapporteur Mr. Boriss Cilevics, Latvia.
The document also maintains the UN data on the number of refugees and displaced persons in Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan. Thus, up to 1999/2000, the number of refugees opting for Armenian citizenship was relatively small. This changed with the enactment in 2000 of a law on persons forcibly displaced from Azerbaijan between 1988 and 1992 who have been naturalised; the legislation grants these persons the right to protection and assistance. As a result, over 15,000 refugees in 2000 and over 16,000 in 2001 acquired citizenship; since 2002, this wave of naturalisation has decreased in intensity. In Georgia, the figures are also vague and legislation has been slow to adapt. The number of displaced persons is put at 237,069 a figure, which shows little variation. According to statistics gathered during the visit to Georgia, this figure includes 224,938 persons from Abkhazia alone, who are unevenly distributed between the regions of Georgia, with a very strong presence in the Tbilisi and Samegrelo (Mingrelia) areas. The number of persons displaced from the former autonomous oblast of South Ossetia is put at 12,131; the same remark may be made about their distribution between the regions of Georgia, with very high densities in Tbilisi and Kartli. In Azerbaijan the statistics provided by UNHCR (for the end of 2004) indicate a figure of 578,545 internally displaced persons and 8,606 refugees.
