Armenia to have universal register of missing servicemen 

ArmInfo.  Armenia is attempting to resolve issues related to missing servicemen and volunteers at the legislative level. At its January 16 session, the National Assembly's Defense and Security Committee approved the first  reading of the draft law "On Persons Missing as a Result of Military  Actions" and a package of related laws submitted by the RA  government.

According to RA Justice Minister Srbuhi Galyan, relations related to  missing persons are currently not regulated by law. They are  partially regulated by the Civil Code, the Law "On Military Service  and the Status of a Serviceman," the Law "On Compensation for Damage  Caused to the Life or Health of a Serviceman During the Defense of  the Republic of Armenia," government decrees, and an order of the  Minister of Defense. Overall, these legal norms only superficially  address the legal relations under consideration. Moreover, one or  another provision of the above-mentioned legal acts mainly determines  the possibility of receiving certain social support by family members  of missing persons.

Galyan noted that various legal acts contain references to missing  persons and their family members, but these provisions are  incomplete, often containing only references to other laws.  Furthermore, given the incompleteness of existing regulations, it is  often difficult for potential beneficiaries to even obtain  information about a particular social guarantee or privilege, as well  as the procedures for providing it.  Therefore, the need arose for a  separate legal act to be developed.

Specifically, it is proposed to consider as missing any military  personnel or volunteers, regardless of citizenship, who went missing  during military operations, or while on combat duty, or while  performing special tasks on the line of contact with the enemy, or  during a declared ceasefire, or during a six-month period following  military operations in peacetime. A missing person report must be  submitted within 72 hours of receiving the last information about  them. Family members of a missing person will be considered to be  their husband, wife, child, parent, grandfather, grandmother,  grandchild, brother, or sister. Search efforts will commence based on  the submitted application, with information about the search reported  to the authorized body every 15 days. The document provides for not  only financial assistance to family members of the missing person but  also emotional and psychological support.

The bill provides for the creation of a unified electronic registry  of missing persons, which will contain all information. The applicant  will be the person who submits an application to search for a person  whose fate and whereabouts are unknown. The beneficiary of social  support will be the person entitled to compensation and state  assistance. The National Security Service will be the authorized body  for searching for missing persons.