Azerbaijan, Baku, May 8 / Trend , E.Ostapenko/
The fact that houses are granted to refugees and IDPs does not mean that they must not repatriate to their native houses, Rapporteur of the PACE Committee on Migration, Refugees and Population John Greenway said at a news conference in Baku on May 8.
"While talking with refugees, we understood that they want to repatriate. Adult people amongst refugees want to return to their native lands. We will give a new impetus to solve this issue," the rapporteur said.
Greenway said if people return to their native lands, serious expenses will be necessary to restore infrastructure, open schools, hospitals, as well as clean the territory from mines.
"The state migration department is important, because there are a lot of refugees from Chechenya, Afghanistan, Pakistan and other countries in Azerbaijan. They do not have a legal status. They should be granted definite guarantees. Our next visit will be dedicated to this issue," the rapporteur said.
During the visit, the PACE rapporteur met with representatives of the authorities and NGOs. "We met with representatives of different humanitarian organizations, including the International Red Cross Committee and officials of the NGO. Then, at the meeting with the governmental officials, we discussed the issues which we knew from representatives of humanitarian organizations. The meeting with Head of the Migration Service Rahimov was also fruitful," he said.