Director of Civil Society Institute NGO Arman Danielyan participated in the parliamentary hearings on "Planning and implementation of civil protection (current situation, challenges and developments)'' organized by the Standing Committee on Defense, National Security and Internal Affairs of the National Assembly on March 27.

NA deputies, representatives of different public bodies, regional governmental bodies, border communities, international organizations as well as civil society participated in the hearings.
Deputy Koryun Nahapetyan stated that the objective of the hearings is to reveal core challenges and gaps in the field of civil protection, create a forum for presentation of ideas and positions of the stakeholders, share opinions and discuss recommendations.

In 2014 ''Civil Society Institute''NGO implemented a project which addressed security issues of civil population in 10 border villages (Chinari, Aygepar, Movses, Nerqin Karmiraghbyur, Paravaqar, Vazashen, Berkaber, Barekamavan, Baghanis, Voskevan) of Tavush region. The aim of the project was to reveal the security problems in these villages, if there is an opportunity to provide support for their solution, as well as record ceasefire violations which are addressed at civil population (health harm and property damages).

During the implementation of the project through individual and group interviews a study on the security issues of the population and ways of their solutions was conducted.

During the hearings Director of ''Civil Society Institute'' NGO Arman Danielyan presented the issues related to the security of the civil population in the border communities, which were identified by the organization. These issues can be conditionally divided into two groups; personal and property safety.

One of the core issues related to human safety in the border communities, is nearly lack of people who have skills of medical assistance, as well as lack of necessary medicine. There are also issues related to shelter construction and equipping the shelters with first aid items. The existing shelters are not safe and are not sufficient enough.

According to him all the means of protection (roads, protective walls, soil hills, tree planting to close the view) today should be taken in a more systematic and substantial way by proper and efficient allocation of resources.

As a serious problem related to civil protection Mr. Danielyan mentioned the need of mapping the risks, planning the actions at different levels of alarm, as well as informing about it the population, so that people living in border communities as well as heads of local governance have an idea about the sequence of their actions during different types of disasters.

According to Mr. Danielyan the main problem related to property safety is the lack of precise strategy of firefighting. Border communities should be equipped with firefighting means (firefighting machines, fire extinguishers and firefighting other means) to prevent or reduce the harm of fire inflicted as a result of shootings. Besides, population should have elementary knowledge what actions can be taken during fire, including how to use fire extinguishers.

''It's necessary to record and collect evidence of any type of violations by the rival directed against civil population, as these are considered military crimes, as well as ensure that both property and health damages are awarded'', -stated Mr. Danielyan.

According to Mr. Danielyan the accidents that take place on the border should be summarized and provided to the international relevant organizations by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

RA Prosecutor's office, RA Ministry of Territorial administration and Emergency situations, as well as RA Foreign ministry should take steps to solve the issues mentioned above. These problems and risks should be taken into consideration when drafting development plans of communities. National Assembly should request reports about the activities aimed at solving these issues.