Women, Children, Elderly Residents, and the Long-Term Social Consequences

The experience of displaced children

For children who fled Nagorno-Karabakh, September 2023 represented the loss of familiar surroundings and a sudden interruption of ordinary life.

Homes, schools, playgrounds, neighborhoods, relatives, and community traditions disappeared from their daily experience.

Many had already lived through the 2020 war and the nine-month blockade.

Some had witnessed explosions, injuries, or deaths. Others experienced hunger, separation from relatives, or long journeys under frightening conditions.

The consequences varied by age and individual circumstances.

Younger children sometimes struggled to understand why they could not return home. Adolescents faced the loss of friendships, educational continuity, and plans for the future.

The displacement also created questions of identity.

Children born in Nagorno-Karabakh had to adapt to life elsewhere while preserving a connection to a homeland they might never see again.

Women and family responsibilities

Women carried substantial responsibilities during the emergency.

Many organized family evacuations, cared for children and elderly relatives, managed essential belongings, and sought accommodation after arriving in Armenia.

Some families had lost male relatives in earlier wars. Others faced separation because relatives were missing, detained, injured, or unable to travel.

Women who had operated businesses or worked in public services also faced sudden unemployment.

Access to healthcare, childcare, safe housing, and employment became important factors in their long-term security.

Elderly residents

Older refugees often faced particularly difficult circumstances.

Some had spent their entire lives in Nagorno-Karabakh and had little experience living elsewhere.

Their departure meant losing not only property but also the social networks, religious communities, and familiar environments that supported everyday life.

Elderly residents with mobility limitations or chronic illnesses faced additional difficulties during evacuation.

Those who remained behind were especially vulnerable because local services and community support had largely disappeared.

The loss of community networks

Displacement scattered residents of individual towns and villages across Armenia and sometimes farther abroad.

Neighbors who had lived near one another for decades were separated.

Local associations, churches, schools, and cultural groups lost their physical meeting places.

Traditional village gatherings, religious celebrations, memorial ceremonies, and community events became difficult to maintain.

The disappearance of these networks was one of the less visible consequences of the exodus.

Rebuilding houses and obtaining employment could not fully replace the social world that had been lost.