Last year Hetq Online conducted an investigation into the problem of people living on the streets of Yerevan, the Armenian capital. I’m avoiding the word “homeless” because homelessness comes in many shapes and forms, and in this case, Edik Baghdasaryan and I were concerned with what are known as ‘rough sleepers’ in the West, or here — rather derogatorily in Russian — as Bomzh. What we discovered was alarming.

City officials in Yerevan don’t see homelessness as a serious social problem, or as a threat. This is why there is no agency that deals with the homeless, and no one who can say how many homeless people there are in Yerevan. We met dozens of people who live on the streets ourselves. They told us they number from 500 to 1,000. And one homeless man, Robert Baghdasaryan, insisted: “There are thousands of people like us.”

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There is nowhere in the capital where homeless people can go to spend the night. Twelve homeless people froze to death in the month of December alone. “Serzhik died right here where you’re sitting now,” a homeless man named Noro told us. Arsen and Toma died too. A homeless person from Karabakh who had fought in the Shahumian guerilla movement was found frozen to death 15 days ago near the GUM market.

Not meaning to rehash a similar editorial written by Edik for this week’s special edition of Hetq Online, it is distressing to learn that not much has changed since the Ministry of Social Security and Labor promised to address the issue. A Diasporan donor was milked for money by the Ministry only to discover that a month later, his hopes for a homeless shelter were dashed because despite recent economic growth, the government said it had no money to employ any staff.

Still, on a brighter note, one thing that also remained the same was the way that civil society worked together in lieu of a government that is fast becoming synonymous with incompetence and increasing corruption. Last year, for example, Yerkir Media TV worked with Edik and Hetq to produce a documentary film that was aired on Armenian television and prompted the government to at least pretend it was ready to do something.

This year was the same, with Irina Hovannisian, a reporter from Yerkir Media TV accompanying us on several visits to interview people living on the streets and in dire need of assistance. Not only that, but Shoghakat TV also accompanied us as well, something that came in handy when Edik would call for an ambulance to take one of our subjects away for treatment.

Basically, the first response from the ambulance service is to say that they’re not coming because no hospital will admit any bomzh. Let’s be frank, despite the law stating that the most vulnerable in society are eligible for free medical treatment, the reality is that a system of informal payments and other forms of corruption define the health system in Armenia. Only 1 in 3 Armenians seek medical assistance as a result and the homeless are in an even worse predicament because they don’t have any money at all.

However, when you’re with a film crew from Yerkir Media TV, a station affiliated with the Armenian Revolutionary Federation - Dashnaksutiun and both the Ministers of Health AND Social Security are paid up members, it’s another matter entirely. Hospital doors swing open even if ambulances delay their departure from picking up their patients in the hope that two film crews, a journalist and a photographer will tire of waiting and leave.

Then, when they have no choice but to leave, they drive so slowly in the hope that we’ll give up following them, something we have to do to make sure that the patient actually reaches their destination and receives the treatment they are entitled to according to law.

Of course, there’s no food for the patient once they’re admitted if they don’t have relatives who can bring them their daily sustenance so a big thank you goes out to Zarchka who visited one patient to take him food and arranged for an NGO she volunteers with to feed and clothe others, as well as Sam Samuelian, co-owner of Square One, who donated days worth of food for Hrant, a homeless refugee and former volunteer fighter in Karabakh.

Hopefully, other NGOs and individuals will ensure the same happens next year. That is, that the needs of the most vulnerable in society are addressed by the State, and that the Ministry of Social Security finally opens its long awaited shelter for the homeless. For now, however, it looks like the Ministry has passed the buck on to the Mission Armenia NGO, but it remains to be seen whether the money that was also promised for their center to function actually materializes.

Perhaps its best to end this post with something that Edik Baghdasarian wrote on the homeless in Yerevan this time last year.

At the Hetq office, we have been talking about the problem of the homeless in Yerevan for several weeks now. Is there anything that journalists can do about it? What is our mission? If we can’t change anything with the articles we write, if we can’t improve any lives, then it is pointless to keep doing this work. Even if hundreds of people respond to our articles, if nothing changes as a result, it means that something is wrong. All human rights follow from one basic right – the right to life. If this right is not guaranteed, everything else is meaningless.

Incidently, there will be an update on the situation of the homeless in Yerevan, including an article by Yerkir Media TV’s Irina Hovannisian, in next Monday’s Hetq Online.

Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Hetq Online