Prime Minister Plans Meetings with Families of Missing and Captured Individuals

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan held a consultation today regarding the return of military personnel and civilians captured during the Artsakh war, the clarification of the fates of the missing individuals, as well as social guarantees for their families.

In his speech, the Prime Minister noted that the 6th point of the road map he released concerns the aforementioned issues. “In general, we need to carry out intensive work in this direction soon. We must ensure that we inform the family members about what work is being done, and there should not be a situation where citizens themselves are forced to go and hold actions in front of various agencies to find out what is being done regarding the discovery or return of their relatives,” he said.

“Yesterday in Echmiadzin, I had such an episodic meeting and interaction with the families of both captured military personnel and civilians, as well as the families of missing persons. We agreed to work intensively, to gather the information we have, and the actions we envision in the near future. In particular, there is a political agreement regarding the exchange of captured individuals, and we need to clarify how that agreement will be implemented, what mechanisms and timelines will be in place, and for the missing persons, we need to understand the mechanisms,” Pashinyan stated.

The Prime Minister informed that he is planning to hold meetings soon with representatives of families of missing and captured individuals. “Of course, during this period, there have been cases, fortunately, when persons considered missing have been found alive and well, who did not have the opportunity to inform us of their whereabouts and simply returned. We must hope that such cases will become more numerous. Now let's prepare so that we can provide relatives with more concrete and complete information,” said Nikol Pashinyan.

The Prime Minister was briefed on the efforts being made for the return of captured military personnel and civilians and clarifying the fates of the missing individuals. Mechanisms for the search operations for the missing were discussed. Attention was given to the directions of social and psychological support for affected families. An intergovernmental working group has been formed at the request of Prime Minister Pashinyan, which works on the rapid resolution of these issues.

The Prime Minister emphasized that it is essential to maintain constant, ongoing communication with the families of captured military personnel and civilians, and the missing persons for this purpose, a round-the-clock operational center should be established. “The most important thing is daily communication with people. State institutions must come, meet, and talk to the families to understand their needs for medical, psychological, and social support,” Pashinyan said.