UNHCR globally and in Armenia is committed to safeguard the rights and well-being of people who have been forced to flee. We work to ensure that everybody has the right to seek asylum and find safe refuge, having fled violence, persecution, war or disaster at home.
The 1951 Refugee Convention defines a refugee as someone who “owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality, and is unable to, or owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country.”
At UNHCR, we believe that everyone has a right to seek asylum from persecution, and we do our best to protect those who need it.
In Armenia, refugee status is granted by the Migration Service of the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure.
As of July 2021, Armenia hosts 3,401 refugees, who fled to Armenia mainly from Azerbaijan (1,212 persons), Iraq (1,092 persons), and Syria (744 persons). The 2014 conflict in Ukraine has resulted in arrival of Ukrainian refugees and asylum seekers to the country in 2014-2016. The majority of the refugees in Armenia are persons of Armenian origin.
Detailed information on asylum-seekers’ rights and responsibilities can be accessed on UNHCR Help Armenia website here.