On the 21-st of July by the initiative of the Chamber of Advocates of RA and the  Armenian office of the High commissioner of refugee agency of the United Nations organization  the public defenders discussed the peculiarities and practice of application of the 31-st article named “The Convention of the refugee status”.   

The discussion was opened by the speeches of the representative of the Armenian office of the High commissioner of refugee agency of the UN Christoph Bierwirth  and the head of the Public Defender office Melanya Arustamyan.  

   Reverting to the primary issues concerning to the rights of refugees the UN representative Christoph Bierwirth noted that their agency has constantly expressed worries about the issues of refugees trying to call attention to their main rights and freedom insurance. He marked that the Armenian nation has been historically conveyed many times and in our country the defense of the refugee rights is considered to be very important.  

The head of the Public Defender office Melanya Arustamyan on continuing the orator’s thought added that in the defense of rights of refugees in RA according to international standards and the insertment of experience, including the realization of international obligations undertaking and the free of charge legal help significant is the role of the office of Public Defender.

The participants discussed positive and failed international practice cases of illegal border crossing decriminalization. The orators presented the international shelter claim and the recent state of legal field in municipal law, the opportunities of progress and the necessary steps that should be taken.

At the end of the discussion the sides recorded that the first joint discussion was a successful start for further deep exploration and collaboration on the matter of defending the rights of refugees.