HRC 49th Session: Item 3 – Interactive dialogue with Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing Delivered by Ms. Armine Petrosyan, Second Secretary - Embassy of Armenia to Switzerland and Permanent Mission of Armenia to the UN office at Geneva

HRC 49th Session: Item 3 – Interactive dialogue with Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing Delivered by Ms. Armine Petrosyan, Second Secretary

16 March, 2022

President,

We thank the Special Rapporteur for his interrelated reports on spatial segregation and the human rights obligations of States and other relevant stakeholders to eliminate housing discrimination, address segregation and its consequences.

It is our conviction that everyone without distinction has the right to an adequate standard of living for themselves and for their families, including housing, and to the continuous improvement of living conditions in security, peace and dignity.

During the war unleashed by Azerbaijan in 2020 against people of Nagorno Karabakh more than 90.000 Armenians were displaced. Most of them returned to their places of residence after the active phase of hostilities. However, around 40.000 Armenians are still deprived from exercising their right of return to their ancestral homes in safety and dignity. They joined more than 400.000 Armenians who were displaced during the persecutions and war that Azerbaijan waged against Armenians in 1990s.

However, even those who have returned are living in the environment of constant threats, intimidation and coercion perpetrated by Azerbaijan with a single aim of whipping them out from Nagorno-Karabakh.

We call upon international community not to turn a blind eye to their plight.

I thank you.

Right of Reply

President,

Armenia exercises its right of reply to the statement of Azerbaijan made during interactive dialogue with Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing. We categorically reject the allegations and false narratives Azerbaijan attempts to impose upon this august Council with the objective to mislead it.

Azerbaijan deliberately distorts the root causes of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict. Nagorno Karabakh has always been overwhelmingly populated by Armenians throughout the history. Armenians are the indigenous people of that land. The conflict had escalated with murderous violence, deportations, premediated massacres and devastating armed hostilities unleashed by Azerbaijan.

In the case Sargsyan v. Azerbaijan, the European Court of Human Rights observed (and I quote) “the applicant is one of hundreds of thousands of Armenians who fled Azerbaijan during the conflict leaving property and home behind” (end of quote). It furthermore made references to the ethnic cleansing committed by Azerbaijan against Armenians.

The impunity Azerbaijan continuously granted to the perpetrators of mass atrocities paved the way to the wars it launched. It has been misguided by the blind racial prejudice and hate towards Armenians. Most recently the International Court of Justice ordered several provisional measures on Azerbaijan. The ICJ stressed that (and I quote) “rhetoric espousing racial discrimination … employed by high-ranking officials of the State” generates “a pervasive racially charged environment within society.” (End of quote).

Azerbaijani officials continue to employ such rhetoric. They terrorize the Armenian villages in the vicinity of the Line-of-Contact by threats spread through loudspeakers. They impose unbearable living conditions upon the people to drive them out of their ancestral homes.

Azerbaijan tends to pursue talks of peace at the high-end multilateral diplomacy salons here and there. Yet, these talks should be substantiated with corresponding actions on the ground.

I thank you.

MFA RA
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