Since there start of Russia’s war in Ukraine, Armenia has experienced an increase in the numbers of people seeking asylum in the country, most of whom are from Ukraine.The country’s migration service reported that from January to March 2022, they had received applications for asylum from 13 countries, including Ukraine, Iran, Iraq, Cuba, Lebanon, and […]
Armenia: Covid-19 and Detention
On 15 July, the GDP received a response to our Covid-19 survey concerning Armenia from a representative of an international organisation who wished to remain anonymous. The official reported that the Armenian government had not established a moratorium on new immigration detention orders and was not considering one. The official indicated that Armenia does not […]
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DETENTION CAPACITY
ALTERNATIVES TO DETENTION
ADDITIONAL ENFORCEMENT DATA
PRISON DATA
POPULATION DATA
LEGAL & REGULATORY FRAMEWORK
Does the Country Have Specific Laws that Provide for Migration-Related Detention?
Detention-Related Legislation
GROUNDS FOR DETENTION
Immigration-Status-Related Grounds
Criminal Penalties for Immigration-Related Violations
Grounds for Criminal Immigration-Related Incarceration / Maximum Length of Incarceration
Has the Country Decriminalised Immigration-Related Violations?
LENGTH OF DETENTION
Maximum Length of Incarceration for Immigration-Related Criminal Conviction
PROCEDURAL STANDARDS & SAFEGUARDS
Procedural Standards
Name
In Law
In Practice
Year
COSTS & OUTSOURCING
COVID-19 DATA
TRANSPARENCY
MONITORING
NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS MONITORING BODIES
NATIONAL PREVENTIVE MECHANISMS (OPTIONAL PROTOCOL TO UN CONVENTION AGAINST TORTURE)
NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANISATIONS (NGOS)
GOVERNMENTAL MONITORING BODIES
INTERNATIONAL DETENTION MONITORING
INTERNATIONAL TREATIES & TREATY BODIES
International Treaties Ratified
Ratification Year
Observation Date
CAT, Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
1993
2017
ICPED, International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance
2011
2017
CTOCTP, Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children
2003
2017
Ratio of relevant international treaties ratified
Ratio: 13/19
Individual Complaints Procedures
Acceptance Year
ICPED, International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, declaration under article 31
2011
2011
ICCPR, First Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 1966
1993
1993
CEDAW, Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, 1999
2006
2006
Relevant Recommendations or Observations Issued by Treaty Bodies
Recommendation Year
Observation Date
Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
22. The Committee urges the State party to ensure that asylum-seekers are not returned or removed to a country or territory where they are at risk of being subjected to serious human rights violations, such as torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, including by further strengthening the safeguards for non-penalization of irregular entry by asylum-seekers and ensuring that
asylum-seekers in detention have access to fair and efficient refugee status determination procedures, as well as appeals procedures with the possibility of having a suspensive effect on the deportation order.
2024
2024
2024
Committee on the Rights of the Child
Asylum-seeking, refugee and migrant children
40. The Committee welcomes the amendments made in 2015 to the Law on Refugees and Asylum and the amendments made in 2022 to the Criminal Code and the Criminal Procedure Code, which strengthened protection for asylum-seekers and refugees in the context of criminal prosecution for illegal entry and the use of forged documents.
(d) Ensure that children are never detained for immigration-related reasons and expand the availability and use of non-custodial solutions for the whole family in
the immigration context;
(e) Further align reception conditions and asylum procedures to make them more child-friendly and to better reflect the best interests of the child and their right to be heard, including through clear protocols, referral pathways, and continuous capacity development for timely identification and response for asylum-seeking and refugee children at risk.
2024
2024
2024
Human Rights Committee
29. The Committee welcomes the efforts of the State party to continue to strengthen its asylum and migration systems. It remains concerned, however, about reports that: (a)Asylum seekers continue to be detained for irregularly entering and staying in the State party....
2021
2021
2021
Committee on the Rights of the Child
§ 44. "The Committee notes that since 28 February 2019 there are no asylum-seeking, refugee or migrant children in regional processing countries but remains seriously concerned that:
(a)The State party “is not intending to establish an independent guardianship entity for unaccompanied children” (CRC/C/AUS/Q/5-6/Add.1, para. 59) even though the Minister for Home Affairs is also responsible for granting immigration visas and approvals;
(b)The Migration Act still prescribes mandatory detention for persons, including children, involved in irregular migration and that the State party “is not currently considering prohibiting the detention of children in all circumstances” (CRC/C/AUS/Q/5-6/Add.1, para. 60);
(c)The amended Migration Act and the amended Maritime Powers Act of 2013 allow for the return of vessels carrying children who may be in need of international assistance;
(d)The policy of utilizing regional processing countries and detaining children has not been revoked;
(e)The best interests of the child are not a primary consideration in asylum, refugee and migration processes, leading to children going through lengthy assessment and determination procedures, and that the 286 children transferred from Nauru and the many thousands of children before them (the “legacy caseload”) “will not be settled in Australia and are encouraged to engage in third-country migration options” (CRC/C/AUS/Q/5-6/Add.1, para. 62), leaving them in limbo for an undetermined period of time;
45. The Committee refers to its general comment No. 6 (2005) on treatment of unaccompanied and separated children outside their country of origin and to joint general comments No. 3 and No. 4 (2017) of the Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families / No. 22 and No. 23 (2017) of the Committee on the Rights of the Child on the human rights of children in the context of international migration and recalls its previous recommendations on asylum-seeking and refugee children (CRC/C/AUS/CO/4, para. 81). The Committee urges the State party immediately:
(a) To amend the Immigration (Guardianship of Children) Act of 1946 (Commonwealth of Australia) to create an independent position of guardian for children;
(b) To amend the Migration Act (Commonwealth of Australia) to prohibit the detention of asylum-seeking, refugee and migrant children;
(c) To amend the Migration Act and the Maritime Powers Act to ensure respect for the State party ’ s non-refoulement obligations, particularly in the course of maritime interceptions and returns;
(d) To enact legislation prohibiting the detention of children and their families in regional processing countries;
(e) To ensure that the best interests of the child are a primary consideration in all decisions and agreements related to the relocation of asylum-seeking, refugee and migrant children within Australia or to other countries;
(f) To ensure that children who have been detained in regional processing countries have access to adequate child protection, education and health services, including mental health services;
(g) To review migration laws and policies with a view to withdrawing disability as a criterion for rejecting immigration requests;
(h) To implement durable solutions, including financial and other support, for all refugee and migrant children to ensure their early rehabilitation, reintegration and sustainable resettlement;
(i) To introduce adequate mechanisms for monitoring the well-being of children involved in asylum, refugee and migration processes.
(f)There is limited information on access to protection, education and health services, including mental health services, for all these children;
(g)Migration laws and policies still allow disability to be the basis for rejecting an immigration request;
(h)Inadequate mechanisms for monitoring the well-being of children involved in asylum, refugee and migration processes exist."
2019
2019
2019
Committee against Torture
42. The State party should:
(a) Ensure that the exemption from criminal responsibility for irregular border crossing for refugees and asylum seekers is strictly enforced in practice and refrain from detaining refugees and asylum seekers on this ground;
(b) Establish a legal basis for regularizing the stay of individuals who are eligible to benefit from protection against refoulement under international human rights law but do not fall under the definition of refugee contained in the Law on Refugees and Asylum;
(c) Develop and implement a comprehensive mechanism to ensure the rights of persons in penitentiary institutions who may be in need of international protection to access asylum procedures, and address, as a matter of priority, the substandard conditions of detention.
2017
2017
2017
Committee against Torture
The State party should continue to take effective measures to improve conditions in places of detention and to reduce overcrowding in such places. The Committee recommends that the State party increase its efforts to remedy prison overcrowding, including through the application of alternative measures to imprisonment in line with the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for Non-custodial Measures ( the Tokyo Rules) and to provide the Committee with information on any probation service to be established in charge of alternative punishment, conditional release and rehabilitation.
The State party should take necessary measures to eliminate any form of violence or discrimination against detainees based on sexual orientation or nationality, including all abusive and discriminatory actions taken by prison inmates against other detainees. It should establish a confidential system for receiving and processing complaints regarding torture or ill-treatment and ensure that the system is established in all places of deprivation of liberty. The State party should further ensure that all complaints received are promptly, impartially and effectively investigated, and the perpetrators punished with appropriate penalties.
2012
2012
2012
Committee on the Rights of the Child
§ 81. "The Committee urges the State party to bring its immigration and asylum laws into full conformity with the Convention and other relevant international standards. In doing so, the State party is urged to take into account the Committee’s general comment No. 6 (2005) on the treatment of unaccompanied and separated children outside their country of origin. Furthermore, the Committee reiterates its previous recommendations ( CRC/C/15/Add.268, para 64). In addition to that, the Committee urges the State party to:
(a) Reconsider its policy of detaining children who are asylum-seeking, refugees and/or irregular migrants; and, ensure that if immigration detention is imposed, it is subject to time limits and judicial review;
(b) Ensure that its migration and asylum legislation and procedures have the best interests of the child as the primary consideration in all immigration and asylum processes; and ensure that determinations of the best interests are consistently conducted by professionals who have been adequately trained on best - interests determination procedures;
(c) Expeditiously establish an independent guardianship/support institution for unaccompanied immigrant children;"
2012
2012
2012
> UN Special Procedures
Relevant Recommendations or Observations by UN Special Procedures
Recommendation Year
Observation Date
Working Group on arbitrary detention
91. The Working Group is aware that migrants in an irregular situation who have entered Armenia through Zvartnots Airport are held in a special room and can be detained there for periods longer than 72 hours, which is the prescribed maximum time under the Law on Refugees and Asylum. The Working Group attempted twice – without success – to have access to this room but regrets that it was not so authorized by the relevant officials. No information was then obtained as to the procedures on treating those that are kept in this dwelling. The Working Group is concerned that a lack of identification and referral mechanisms for persons held in such a dwelling may result in prolonged “detention-like” situation for persons kept in this place. (g) Amend the Law on State Borders and the Criminal Code to incorporate provisions exempting asylum-seekers from detention for illegal entry into the country and improve detention conditions and detainees’ access to information on asylum procedures and legal counsel; (h) Establish proper reception facilities at the Zvartnots International Airport and at all major land entry points; (i) Establish a programme to provide all border guards with initial and ongoing training on the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, the Armenian Law on Refugees and all other international and internal legal norms concerning asylum-seekers and refugees. Ensure protection of all persons at risk of extradition who have expressed a clear intention of claiming political asylum and have not been able to do so in accordance with the established formal procedures in place;
2011
2011
2011
> UN Universal Periodic Review
Relevant Recommendations or Observations from the UN Universal Periodic Review
Observation Date
Yes
26.334 Ensure that the detention and separation of migrant families and asylum seekers are not used as punitive measures to deter irregular entry into the country (Peru); 26.335 Increase its efforts to protect migrants, especially those in vulnerable groups, including by seeking alternatives to detention for migrant children and ensuring access to basic services (Thailand); 26.337 Seek alternatives to the present immigration detention system and improve conditions of confinement to meet basic human rights standards (Zambia); 26.338 Stop incarcerating migrants, including migrant children, and guarantee the rights of migrants (China); 26.339 Stop the cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of migrants and asylum seekers and the separation of hundreds of minors from their families (Cuba); 26.340 Protect the rights of children who arrive in the United States and seek alternatives to the current detention system for migrant children, both unaccompanied and part of family groups, and allow them to remain under the protection of their parents (Ecuador); 26.342 Ensure that detention centres for migrants and refugees and the treatment they receive meet the basic conditions called for under international human rights law and standards (Fiji); 26.343 Improve conditions of confinement pertaining to immigrants to meet human rights standards and international treaties (Ghana); 26.344 Stop separating young children from their migrant parents and putting; migrants and refugees, ensure adequate conditions in detention centres, prioritize the family unit and safeguard the best interests of the child (Mexico).
2020
3rd
2020
REGIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS MECHANISMS
Regional Legal Instruments
Year of Ratification (Treaty) / Transposed (Directive) / Adoption (Regulation)
Observation Date
ECHRP7, Protocol 7 to the European Convention on Human Rights (amended by protocol 11)
2002
2002
2017
ECPT, European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment of Punishment
2002
2002
2017
ECHR, Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (commonly known as the European Convention on Human Rights
2002
2002
2017
HEALTH CARE PROVISION
HEALTH IMPACTS
COVID-19
Country Updates
Since there start of Russia’s war in Ukraine, Armenia has experienced an increase in the numbers of people seeking asylum in the country, most of whom are from Ukraine.The country’s migration service reported that from January to March 2022, they had received applications for asylum from 13 countries, including Ukraine, Iran, Iraq, Cuba, Lebanon, and Syria. Over the past ten years, Armenia has granted refugee status to over 1,500 asylum seekers, with an average of 220 per year in the past five years. According to UNHCR 2021 mid-year data, there were 3,401 refugees, 127 asylum seekers, 42,023 people in refugee-like situations and 892 stateless people in the country. This data includes people displaced as a result of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
According to the country’s 2006 Law on Foreigners, there are several grounds under which non-citizens may be detained. Article 37 provides that non-citizens may be detained when “it is impossible to return a foreigner to the State of origin or to the State where he or she came from, foreigners who have arrived at a crossing point of the state border of the Republic of Armenia without a passport, with an invalid passport, or who have been refused an entry visa at a crossing point of the state border of the Republic of Armenia, or who have not obtained an entry authorisation from the body carrying out border control, may be detained in a transit area or in another place - in a special facility provided for that purpose.” Non-citizens may be detained for up to 90 days; if the return of a non-citizen to their country of origin is not possible within 90 days, the relevant public administration can issue a temporary permit to the non-citizen for a term not exceeding one year. Detained non-citizens are supposed to be provided with important protections procedural safeguards, including: being provided the reasons for their arrest and detention in a language they understand or with the help of a translator; having the right to appeal against any court decision regarding their cases; receiving medical assistance; and having access to legal and consular assistance (Article 39).
Armenia has ratified several relevant human rights treaties including the Convention Against Torture, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. In its concluding observations published in 2017, the Committee Against Torture said that the State party should: “(a) Ensure that the exemption from criminal responsibility for irregular border crossing for refugees and asylum seekers is strictly enforced in practice and refrain from detaining refugees and asylum seekers on this ground; (b) Establish a legal basis for regularising the stay of individuals who are eligible to benefit from protection against refoulement under international human rights law but do not fall under the definition of refugee contained in the Law on Refugees and Asylum; (c) Develop and implement a comprehensive mechanism to ensure the rights of persons in penitentiary institutions who may be in need of international protection to access asylum procedures, and address, as a matter of priority, the substandard conditions of detention.”
While the processing of asylum applications of individuals in detention was suspended at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the processing of other cases continued. UNHCR praised the country’s migration service in adjusting asylum procedures and the creation of an online registration system.
The country began its vaccination campaign against COVID-19 in April 2021 starting with people aged 65 and above. While the International Organisation for Migration has reported that “all foreign citizens including stateless persons, regardless of the period of stay in Armenia are eligible for vaccination against coronavirus”, it is unclear whether other groups such as undocumented migrants are included in the national vaccination plan.
On 15 July, the GDP received a response to our Covid-19 survey concerning Armenia from a representative of an international organisation who wished to remain anonymous. The official reported that the Armenian government had not established a moratorium on new immigration detention orders and was not considering one. The official indicated that Armenia does not operate an established immigration detention centre. The source explained that detainees in prisons are tested if it is suspected that they may have contracted Covid-19. Nonetheless, detainees are not routinely tested.
In a separate communication with the GDP, Mission Armenia, a local NGO, reported that people who enter the country in violation of border regulations “are transferred to common places of detention functioning within the country.” The country’s criminal code provides that individuals found crossing the state’s border without relevant documents or permits can be punished with imprisonment. However, this does not apply to people who enter the country seeking asylum. Asylum seekers are supposed to be accommodated in reception centres while they undergo refugee status determination procedures, where they receive food, hygiene items, and are not subjected to movement restrictions.
The anonymous source confirmed these details and added that many asylum seekers also apply for support with accommodation to the Migration Service or UNHCR partner NGO’s engaged in the provision of social assistance, or take care of accommodation by themselves. Mission Armenia nonetheless points out that as there sometimes are insufficient places available in reception centres, the NGO accommodates asylum seekers as well as non-nationals in deportation procedures.
The anonymous official said that currently, the Armenian government is developing a State Migration Management Strategy to regulate issues related to immigration detention, including building a dedicated immigration detention centre. The Armenian Ombudsman, however, has called on authorities to use “alternatives to detention,” echoing calls made by the Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment on 20 March.
As regards deportations, the source reported that they were not aware of any deportation cases among persons of concern since the declaration of the state of emergency by the Armenian government on 16 March 2020. On that date, the government declared a 30-day nationwide state of emergency. This was then prolonged four times and is now declared to be in place until 13 August. The state of emergency imposed movement restrictions, including travel to and from Armenia, particularly for non-citizens. At the same time, a non-citizen or stateless person can apply for asylum in Armenia during this period. However, upon entering the country s/he may undergo certain medical examinations and/or be placed in quarantine for 14 days. The Armenian Migration Service has created an online platform to submit asylum applications.
