THE YSU LAW CLINIC CONTINUES TO PROMOTE THE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF STUDENTS

The program launched in October aims to acquaint students with the importance of information about the country of origin in the asylum procedures, focusing primarily on the features of the ethnoreligious, legal systems of Middle East countries, and information about the level of human rights protection. After the first stage of the program, a student will be selected from those who have attended the lectures, and he/she will be working with the specialists of the "Mission Armenia" charity NGO to obtain information about the country of origin of asylum seekers in Armenia.

During 21 lectures, the representatives of the YSU Faculty of Law and Oriental Studies presented information to the participants about Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Afghanistan, and Turkey. Before handing over the certificates to the program participants, Armen Ghazaryan, head of the Migration and Citizenship service of the RA Ministry of Internal Affairs, gave a lecture, talking about the modern tendencies of migration movements.

Highlighting the relevance of this program, Knarik Vardanyan, Candidate of Law, Director of YSU Legal Clinic, and Associate Professor of the Chair of European and International Law, emphasized that the countries were chosen taking into account the number of citizens seeking asylum in RA and the lack of necessary information about those countries.

"This program plays an important role in the work of lawyers and government bodies in the field of applying information about the country of origin in asylum decision procedures, so it is important that students of legal clinics, as future practicing lawyers, have a high awareness of the field," emphasized K. Vardanyan.

18 students from the legal clinics of Yerevan State University and Northern University participated and received certificates in the program that launched in October. The program is implemented by the legal clinic of the Faculty of Law of YSU and the charitable NGO "Mission Armenia" with the financial support of the US Embassy in Armenia.

According to Jennifer McKendrew, Public Relations Officer of the US Embassy in Armenia, contributing to the implementation of this program is extremely important for the US Embassy. Emphasizing the importance of supporting asylum seekers and refugees, she noted that this program will contribute to the improvement of the asylum procedures in Armenia.

It should be noted that the event was also attended by the representatives of the YSU Faculty of Law and Oriental Studies, employees of the US Embassy in Armenia, representatives of the charity NGO "Mission Armenia", and students of YSU and Northern University legal clinics.