Armenia abolishes emergencies ministry, creates interior ministry instead

The Armenian government has adopted a draft resolution on the liquidation of the Ministry of Emergency Situations and the establishment of the Interior Ministry.

The Interior Ministry will consist of three structures: police, rescue and migration services, Caliber.Az reports quoting Armenian media.

According to information, the new ministry will have five functional areas: community policing, crime interdiction and detection, disaster risk management, migration and citizenship, management of state reserves and humanitarian affairs.

The country’s Acting Justice Minister Grigor Minasyan said at the meeting that an anti-corruption agency and an internal security agency will operate within the structure, which will ensure quality control of the entire ministry.

He noted that the Emergencies Ministry would be abolished and incorporated into the Interior Ministry, while employees who had received benefits as part of their service in the Emergencies Ministry when transitioning to civilian service would receive military pensions for five years. The process of liquidation of the Emergencies Ministry will take four months.

For his part, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said that the police chief would become a deputy minister of the Interior Ministry and, simultaneously, a member of the Security Council. He also noted that the police forces would be reorganised into the Police Guard, with broader powers to ensure internal security.

He also said that in parallel with the process of forming the ministry, a voluntary certification process will begin, the aim of which is to at least double the salaries of police and rescue service personnel.