Following the footsteps of the Indian citizens’ problem in Ijevan: why the protest started and how it progressed

Indian citizens working in the city of Ijevan had blocked the Ijevan-Yerevan interstate highway, protesting their working conditions.

To shed light on the situation, we visited the factory on August 7 to speak with the parties on site, to present their problems and their views on the solution to the problem. However, the Indian employees did not want to talk, and we managed to speak only with one of the parties, the director.

On the same day, after numerous attempts to contact the Indian citizens, they informed us that they did not want to talk and would be ready to talk the next day. On August 8, behind closed doors, the Indian workers rejected our offer to publicly present their problems. On August 9, a video was circulated in which the Indian citizens announced that they would continue the strike and demand three months of salary.

In the resulting situation, representatives of the Indian Consulate in Armenia arrived in Ijevan. After hours of discussions, the ambassador left without answering questions, while the Indian employees expressed positive impressions of the discussions that took place.

The Human Rights Defender also addressed the situation.

This topic, which has been discussed and debated in the republic for days, seems to have reached its conclusion. Whether there were violations of labor rights or not, will be clarified after the administrative proceedings of the Labor Inspectorate.