Azerbaijan has expanded the rules for granting internally displaced person status and identification documents, adding certain people born after districts were occupied and men who were married to women from those areas before displacement.
The State Committee for Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons amended the rules governing the status and certificates, Vesti Baku reported.
People Born After Occupation
The new rules allow status to be issued to people born after a district was occupied when documents confirm their connection to a family of internally displaced persons.
Applicants must provide identity and birth certificates, their mother’s identity and marriage documents and, when applicable, a divorce certificate or proof of paternity. They must also submit their father’s identity document and IDP certificate, or a statement from the district executive authority confirming forced departure because of occupation. Two color photographs measuring 3 by 4 centimeters are also required.
Same Rules for Husbands and Wives
Previously, women could receive status if they had married a resident of an occupied district before displacement, retained registration in their own district and later registered at their husband’s place of residence after occupation.
The same conditions will now apply to men who married women with internally displaced person status, eliminating the previous difference in treatment between spouses.
Status is not automatic. Authorities will review each applicant’s eligibility and supporting documents.