Applications rejected, Armenians wind up homeless, living on streets

Two Armenian families who have been living on the streets for the past two months in the small French community of Cholet have become the talk of the town. At the end of March, one of the families was forced to leave the Refugee Center for Asylum Seekers (CADA) and the other, a hotel, where they had been temporarily living.

France rejected their request for asylum and the Maine-et-Loire  Conseil Général (Departmental Council) has decided to halt all assistance to the families since they have exhausted all their legal avenues and have no right to remain in France. Nevertheless, the families refuse to return to Armenia. At first, the families lived in mobile homes supplied through Emmaus, a French organization assisting the homeless. But this came to an end on June 14 and the families found themselves on the street of the Cholet, a town just outside of Nantes, the capital city of the Pays de la Loire region in western France. A local activist group, the Oumar Diallo Committee, tried to help the families. For three weeks, members held a vigil with the families outside the Cholet Municipality. For a while, the Armenians were put up in the homes of Committee members.

Families claim persecution awaits them in Armenia

The first Armenian family (the parents are aged 48 and 44) have two children, 15 and 12 years-old. The second family (parents 32 and 25) also has two kids; one is 5 years-old and the other just 8 months. Both refuse to return to Armenia, arguing that a number of dangers await them there. At the beginning of July, the Nantes Administrative Court once again rejected the asylum petition of the first family. The Court found that the family failed to substantiate their claims that their lives would be in danger if they returned to their home country. Michel Le Clerc, who heads the Committee, told me that the father of the 12 and 15 year-olds is from the Yezidi minority in Armenia and that he was being hounded by a local “boss” in Yerevan. “They have fled their country since one of the families is Yezidi and was living in a neighborhood run by a local clan. The other family was forced to flee because they participated in the street protests in Yerevan. They don’t want to return to Armenia. They want to reside in France.” The second Armenian family is anxiously awaiting a review of their asylum petition. There are many families from Armenia who have made their way to the Maine-et-Loire region of France seeking asylum. In overall numbers, Armenia ranked third, behind Kosovo and Sri Lanka, as the country of origin for asylum petitions in 2009.

Number of Armenians seeking asylum is rising

In 2008, the number of RoA citizens seeking asylum in France was 1,532. This number comprised 13.2% of the total number of first-time asylum seekers in France that year. In 2009, the number of RoA citizens seeking asylum in France shot up by 50% to 2,297. This comprised 17.2% of the total number filing first-time asylum requests in France. According to the 2009 report issued by French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons (OFPRA), citizens of Armenia seeking asylum in France continue to present political considerations as the prime motivating factor.

March 1st events given as primary reason

The bulk of Armenians seeking asylum point to the fallout of the 2008 presidential elections in Armenia as the reason why, arguing they participated in the mass rallies that took place in Yerevan. They claim they were members of various opposition groups, most notably the Armenian National Congress (HAK), “Orinats Yerkir” (Rule of Law) and “Yerkrapah” and face political persecution or worse if they return. OFPRA also continues to receive petitions claiming a host of ethnic-related problems as a result of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict. These claims have become commonplace over the years. Some Armenians present themselves as members of the Yezidi minority community when requesting asylum. Others claim they are in debt or beholden to “powerful” figures back in Armenia and would pay dearly if they were forced to return.

According to the OFPRA, the reasons and arguments employed by Armenian citizens haven’t changed all that much this year as well. Even though France included Armenia in its list of stable nations at the end of 2009, the flow of Armenians seeking asylum in “La Belle France” hasn’t diminished. Figures we obtained from the OFPRA show that 590 first-time asylum petitions were received from RoA citizens in the first six months of 2010. 171 applications underwent review. In all, 954 Armenian citizens requested French asylum.

Hoping to meet up with some Armenians appealing their request denials we headed for the National Right of Asylum Court (CDNA). I spotted a few Armenian surnames on the list of appeals and it turns out that the court found in their favor.

More amazing was the fact that the lawyer for all the families was the same person. We tried to meet with this immigration attorney but the secretary said it was out of the question – the lawyer was just too busy to see us. That same day we met with a few other Armenian families anxiously awaiting the decision of the court. One of them used the Armenian-Azerbaijani ethnic issue as a basis for asylum.

“My grandmother really was born in Azerbaijan,” said the mother of the family. The two children, recently arrived from Armenia, confessed that they would be going before the court as victims of the March 1, 2008 events in Yerevan.