Last month, the Armenian Government approved the draft Law on Social Assistance. According to our information, the government had refused to send the draft to the parliament for two years, citing financial problems. "The only problem was related to the homeless, but now it's solved," Ashot Yesayan, deputy minister of labor and social issues, told us. The government may have been influenced to reconsider its uncompromising position and seek a solution to this pressing problem through approving the draft law by a series of articles in Hetq Online, and by an event organized by the Investigative Journalists of Armenia entitled The Right to Life, which featured an exhibition of photographs of the lives of the homeless by Hetq photojournalist Onnik Krikorian and a presentation of a film on the problem of homelessness in Yerevan, Nameless Tombs , a joint production of Yerkir Media TV and the Investigative Journalists.

The law won't go into effect until the beginning of 2006, but according to Yesayan, if they manage to get funding from different organizations, they will, of course, create a shelter for the homeless before that. The minister of labor and social issues has already received several pledges.

The Law on Social Assistance defines ways of supporting socially vulnerable people, including boarding schools, orphanages, home care, social rehabilitation centers, twenty-four hour care, and temporary shelters.

Most of these structures already exist in our country, to help solve the problems of the elderly, the lonely, street children, orphans, and the abandoned, but homeless people and vagrants have consistently been left out in the cold.

In the new Criminal Code that was adopted in 2003, vagrants and beggars are no longer considered criminal offenders but regarded as social victims. They were not, however, included in the Poverty Reduction Strategy Project.

"On one hand, it's good that since the late nineties, society has turned its attention to beggars and vagrant children, but we have to fight the problem in its entirety," Yesayan said. " If the problem of children has been somewhat solved, the problem of others has not, and adults have a very bad influence on children. Children are drawn to it when they see how much a beggar makes.Begging is also part of a racket, so big sums of money don't go just like that-there are people whom they pay. So they play on the emotions of this emotional nation. Meanwhile, if it's possible, there should be targeted charity, but a lot of people don't care at all."

Temporary shelters, where they can stay for up to sixty days, are planned for the homeless and victims of violence who have nowhere else to go. These types of shelters have been set up in the last two years by NGOs implementing temporary projects aimed at protecting the rights of victims of violence.

Ashot Yesayan believes a center should be set up in Yerevan , noting that half of the republic lives there. The project is planned to be implemented in two stages. "We have to round up the homeless people, give them medical checkups, and verify identities, and then, in order to implement a long-range project, an administrative penalty will be imposed on them which shall be defined by the law," Yesayan said. He explained that the European Convention permits administrative expulsion of the homeless. After going through the process of rehabilitation, if they are ready to renounce that kind of life, their registration will be restored.

Once the institution is established, research will be done to determine how those people ended up on the streets. "The main goal will be to bring them back to the family, and to find some occupation for them so that they will be financially secure," the deputy minister said. He is certain that only 10-12% of those people are on the streets out of need; the rest are there out of habit. "Begging is a profession for them; they even take on the role of professional actor. 60-70% of them are alcoholics, which means they have a dependency, so they will get compulsory medical treatment if necessary." He believes there are vagrants who have everything but take to the streets anyway, and that society should not have to give them shelter.

In the second stage, the homeless will be settled in a village, and given houses, land, and farm animals. The village is to have a policeman, a psychologist, a doctor, and a nurse. A lawyer is also needed, because the homeless have certainly once owned property, which they have lost for some reason, and it may be possible to get it back. Many have become so depressed and alienated from the public that it's quite possible that they are entitled to a pension and social benefits, but don't apply for them. The presence of a psychologist is a must as well, since often psychological barriers are what got them into their situation. They have to go through a temporary working rehabilitation process. "I am sure that by eliminating their misfortune temporarily, they will become productive citizens of Armenia ," Yesayan said. "The social worker must cooperate with the police officer, so that it does not become a place to hide out."

Astghik Minasyan, head of the Department of Social Assistance of the Ministry, added that the Law on Social Assistance is a law that suits reality in Armenia . By adopting this law, we are only filling a gap that's been left in the constitution, and people should know about the rights it provides.

The Law on Social Assistance defines the principles of providing social assistance: the competences given to the participants, the responsibilities starting from the Government, the Ministry of Labor and Social Issues, local self-governing bodies, regional governing bodies, agencies that provide social services, and also non-state organizations, especially NGOs. The law also defines the rights and responsibilities of social workers, along with the education they are required to have, since they are specialists who deal with human lives.

Photos by Onnik Krikorian