Armenia trying to legally regulate issues related to missing military  personnel

ArmInfo.Armenia is attempting to resolve issues related to missing military personnel and volunteers at the legislative level. At its March 2 session, the RA  National Assembly Committee on Defense and Security approved the second and final 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 Minister of Justice Srbuhi Galyan, several proposals  were received after the first reading, most of which were technical  in nature and were accepted by the drafters. Currently, relations  related to missing persons are not regulated at the legislative  level. 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, the aforementioned  legal norms only superficially address the legal relations under  consideration. Moreover, various provisions of the aforementioned  legal acts primarily determine the eligibility of family members of  missing persons for certain social support.

Galyan noted that while various legal acts contain references to  missing persons and their family members, 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 benefit, as well  as the procedures for its provision.  Therefore, the need arose to  develop a separate legal act.

Specifically, it is proposed to consider a military service member or  volunteer, regardless of citizenship, missing in action during  military operations, or while on combat duty, or while performing  special tasks along 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, grandparent, grandchild, brother, or sister.  Based on the submitted report, search operations are initiated, with  information about the missing person 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 moral and  psychological support.

The bill also provides for the creation of a unified electronic  registry of missing persons, which will contain all information. The  applicant will be considered the person who filed a search request  for a missing 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 agency for searching for missing persons.