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CALL FOR TRANSPARENCY: SYRIAN ARMENIANS DEMAND 'FAIR DISTRIBUTION' OF AID
SOCIETY | 15.01.14 | 11:33
Photolure
By SIRANUYSH GEVORGYAN
ArmeniaNow reporter
Some representatives of the Syrian-Armenian community who decided to
stay in Armenia after fleeing war in their home country demand a fair
distribution of the aid that is being provided to them. In particular,
they want greater transparency in the process.
Enlarge Photo Diaspora Minister Hranush Hakobyan
Complaints about the distribution of aid have been made through
Facebook pages, Armenians of Aleppo and Aleppo Armenians, which cover
a wide range of issues concerning Syrian Armenians and related news.
Aleppo-born Armenian doctor Robert Syulahyan, who is currently based in
Yerevan and is the founder of the Armenians of Aleppo Facebook group
that has 8,000 members, says that at this moment the transparency
of assistance, along with the problem of finding jobs, is the most
pressing issue for ethnic Armenians who fled Syria and have set up
their residence in historical motherland Armenia.
Activists of the Facebook group raised this issue during the January
13 discussion at the Diaspora Ministry, during which head of the
Ministry's Department of Armenian Communities of the Near and Middle
East Lusine Stepanyan presented a detailed report on financial and
other kind of assistance provided to Syrian Armenians who have settled
down in Armenia. Although Stepanyan did not present complete data on
how much assistance has been provided to Syrian Armenians, the list has
been quite extended as it included dozens of charitable organizations
that have paid for Syrian Armenians' rent, utility costs, provided
them with food, clothing, shoes, stationery or directly allocated
cash assistance to them.
Diaspora Minister Hranush Hakobyan, who attended the discussion,
emphasized that the state is not involved in distributing aid,
but instead it urges and persuades various international charitable
organizations to provide assistance to Syrian Armenians who need help.
"It is these organizations that decide on who to provide assistance to,
how much and how," the minister said. At the same time she stressed
that during the past two years the government has done everything to
help Syrian Armenians in matters concerning documents, healthcare,
education, housing and other issues.
According to the Ministry's data, about 45,000 Armenians continue to
live in Syria today, of them 25,000-30,000 live in Aleppo. In the
past few years 15,000 Syrian Armenians came to Armenia, but only
about 11,000 of them continue to live here today.
During the discussion at the Diaspora Ministry one Aleppo Armenian
said that aid provided to Syrian Armenians was not being distributed
fairly in Armenia. "It is always the same 200 or 500 persons who get
it," he complained.
In response to this, the minister said that she would like very
much to see all philanthropists providing assistance to all Syrian
Armenians, but in some cases they have a limited number of items,
for example 200 pairs of shoes. "I'm not Jesus Christ to make these
200 pairs of shoes 5,000 to be enough for all," Hakobyan said.
Aleppo Armenian Houri Matyossian Jebenian, who currently lives
in Yerevan, says she has received aid from several charitable
organizations, including food, blankets, some of her relatives also
received financial assistance (60,000 drams, about $150, paid for a
period of three months, or a lump sum cash assistance of 79,000 drams,
about ($200), to compensate for natural gas consumption costs. But
she also says that in many cases she learned about an opportunity to
get assistance from a charity too late to become a beneficiary.
Matyossian Jebenian believes that transparency in aid distribution
is connected with organizational problems.
"Their system of work is wrong, they say they announce it through
the internet, but I may go on for days without checking my Facebook
account, or there are elderly people who do not use the internet
at all. Perhaps they are inexperienced and we are not got used to
receiving aid. We used to have everything in Aleppo, and now we
have found ourselves in this situation. But we are very grateful for
whatever assistance has been given to us," she says.
The 44-year-old Aleppo woman's husband is in Canada now. In the
near future she, her daughter and her husband's parents also plan
to move to that country. Matyossian Jebenian says if her husband,
who is involved in automobile spare parts selling, could work here
and have a decent income, as in Aleppo, they would not even think
about leaving Armenia. But she says he participated in different
discussions and saw that the taxes here are so high that he won't be
able to do that work in Armenia.
"If there were conditions for work, no one would have leaving in
mind, it is very safe here, it is very calm in Armenia," says the
Syrian-Armenian woman.
Syrian-Armenian journalist Harut Ekmanyan notes that ethnic Armenians
from Syria who have come to Armenia, in contrast to those Syrians who
appeared in refugee camps, are in incomparably better conditions,
but even in this case one could do more and organize everything in
a better way.
"There is a strong Diaspora, there are great opportunities that have
not been used properly for Syrian Armenians both in Armenia and Syria,"
says the CivilNet website columnist, stressing that very often various
agencies use the occasions for helping Syrian Armenians for their
own PR purposes.
http://www.armenianow.com/society/51330/armenia_syrian_armenians_social_issues
From: Baghdasarian
SOCIETY | 15.01.14 | 11:33
Photolure
By SIRANUYSH GEVORGYAN
ArmeniaNow reporter
Some representatives of the Syrian-Armenian community who decided to
stay in Armenia after fleeing war in their home country demand a fair
distribution of the aid that is being provided to them. In particular,
they want greater transparency in the process.
Enlarge Photo Diaspora Minister Hranush Hakobyan
Complaints about the distribution of aid have been made through
Facebook pages, Armenians of Aleppo and Aleppo Armenians, which cover
a wide range of issues concerning Syrian Armenians and related news.
Aleppo-born Armenian doctor Robert Syulahyan, who is currently based in
Yerevan and is the founder of the Armenians of Aleppo Facebook group
that has 8,000 members, says that at this moment the transparency
of assistance, along with the problem of finding jobs, is the most
pressing issue for ethnic Armenians who fled Syria and have set up
their residence in historical motherland Armenia.
Activists of the Facebook group raised this issue during the January
13 discussion at the Diaspora Ministry, during which head of the
Ministry's Department of Armenian Communities of the Near and Middle
East Lusine Stepanyan presented a detailed report on financial and
other kind of assistance provided to Syrian Armenians who have settled
down in Armenia. Although Stepanyan did not present complete data on
how much assistance has been provided to Syrian Armenians, the list has
been quite extended as it included dozens of charitable organizations
that have paid for Syrian Armenians' rent, utility costs, provided
them with food, clothing, shoes, stationery or directly allocated
cash assistance to them.
Diaspora Minister Hranush Hakobyan, who attended the discussion,
emphasized that the state is not involved in distributing aid,
but instead it urges and persuades various international charitable
organizations to provide assistance to Syrian Armenians who need help.
"It is these organizations that decide on who to provide assistance to,
how much and how," the minister said. At the same time she stressed
that during the past two years the government has done everything to
help Syrian Armenians in matters concerning documents, healthcare,
education, housing and other issues.
According to the Ministry's data, about 45,000 Armenians continue to
live in Syria today, of them 25,000-30,000 live in Aleppo. In the
past few years 15,000 Syrian Armenians came to Armenia, but only
about 11,000 of them continue to live here today.
During the discussion at the Diaspora Ministry one Aleppo Armenian
said that aid provided to Syrian Armenians was not being distributed
fairly in Armenia. "It is always the same 200 or 500 persons who get
it," he complained.
In response to this, the minister said that she would like very
much to see all philanthropists providing assistance to all Syrian
Armenians, but in some cases they have a limited number of items,
for example 200 pairs of shoes. "I'm not Jesus Christ to make these
200 pairs of shoes 5,000 to be enough for all," Hakobyan said.
Aleppo Armenian Houri Matyossian Jebenian, who currently lives
in Yerevan, says she has received aid from several charitable
organizations, including food, blankets, some of her relatives also
received financial assistance (60,000 drams, about $150, paid for a
period of three months, or a lump sum cash assistance of 79,000 drams,
about ($200), to compensate for natural gas consumption costs. But
she also says that in many cases she learned about an opportunity to
get assistance from a charity too late to become a beneficiary.
Matyossian Jebenian believes that transparency in aid distribution
is connected with organizational problems.
"Their system of work is wrong, they say they announce it through
the internet, but I may go on for days without checking my Facebook
account, or there are elderly people who do not use the internet
at all. Perhaps they are inexperienced and we are not got used to
receiving aid. We used to have everything in Aleppo, and now we
have found ourselves in this situation. But we are very grateful for
whatever assistance has been given to us," she says.
The 44-year-old Aleppo woman's husband is in Canada now. In the
near future she, her daughter and her husband's parents also plan
to move to that country. Matyossian Jebenian says if her husband,
who is involved in automobile spare parts selling, could work here
and have a decent income, as in Aleppo, they would not even think
about leaving Armenia. But she says he participated in different
discussions and saw that the taxes here are so high that he won't be
able to do that work in Armenia.
"If there were conditions for work, no one would have leaving in
mind, it is very safe here, it is very calm in Armenia," says the
Syrian-Armenian woman.
Syrian-Armenian journalist Harut Ekmanyan notes that ethnic Armenians
from Syria who have come to Armenia, in contrast to those Syrians who
appeared in refugee camps, are in incomparably better conditions,
but even in this case one could do more and organize everything in
a better way.
"There is a strong Diaspora, there are great opportunities that have
not been used properly for Syrian Armenians both in Armenia and Syria,"
says the CivilNet website columnist, stressing that very often various
agencies use the occasions for helping Syrian Armenians for their
own PR purposes.
http://www.armenianow.com/society/51330/armenia_syrian_armenians_social_issues
From: Baghdasarian