Study of the problems and needs of the villages bordering with Armenia

On Monday, a presentation of the study entitled:

"To secure future: Voice of the people in the border regions of Armenia and Azerbaijan."

The report is based on field research conducted by the Azerbaijan Society for Humanitarian Research and the Armenian Civil Society Institute (Yerevan), with the support of the British organization Saferworld. The project was implemented with financial support from the Swiss Foreign Ministry.

According to Saferworld Project Manager in the Caucasus Tabib Huseynov, the project has studied the situation in 10 border villages of Armenia and Azerbaijan on each side.

The aim of the study was to assess the needs and requirements of the inhabitants of villages, bringing their voices to the public authorities and international organizations, assessment of damage from the incident.

The main message of this paper is to call the conflicting parties to respect the Geneva Conventions and to avoid attacks on civilians and civilian objects.

The project was implemented from January 2014 to 2015. Start of fieldwork coincided with the escalation of the situation in July and August 2014, said the head of the Society for Humanitarian Studies Avaz Hasanov. It has allowed to document the damage to the civilian population.

Until now,   there is no systematic registration of public incidents against civilians and their property.

The project created a web-based resource http://protectcivilians-ru.blogspot.com/p/database-map-of-incidents.html.  The results of monitoring of incidents that affected the civilian population in the conflict zone with January 2014 were posted.

The information is divided into data about the killed, wounded and damage to civilian property.

Author of the report from the Azerbaijani side is a well-known expert Togrul Juvarly, who noted the similarity of the problems and worries of cross-border population on both sides.

However, in the issue of security the expert identified  differences in the position of the Armenian side. So, speaking for the deployment of peacekeeping forces and the withdrawal of snipers,  the Armenians offer to arm  local population.

The report put forward recommendations to strengthen security, social protection, the development of infrastructure in the border villages, involvement of local people in projects to address their own needs.

A similar report and recommendations are made by the Armenian expert Maya Barkhudaryan from  Civil Society  Institution.

Text  of the research was edited by the expert Hans Gutbrot. Comments were also  presented by Tabib Huseynov and Nana Gamkrelidze from  Saferworld. -06C-