HRC50: Interactive Dialogue on the Annual Report of the High Commissioner

14 June, 2022

Madame Vice-President,

Armenia thanks High Commissioner for the leadership that she has exercised throughout her tenure, and wishes every success in all her future endeavors.

We welcome OHCHR’s prioritization of prevention of genocide in its advocacy work. We value the guidance that the Office provides us with, in particular for adoption and implementation of the Human Rights Due Diligence Policy.

Armenia shares the High Commissioner’s view that the situation in Ukraine has also had impact on those caught up in protracted conflicts in the South Caucasus. Indeed, there is a need to step up engagement to contribute to prevention, confidence-building and protection, especially in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Conflict-affected populations are among those who are left furthest behind, especially since the warmongers and instigators exert pressure to limit and disable the work of the UN human rights machinery. Armenia has consistently advocated for the OHCHR’s unfettered and unlimited access anywhere and anytime. We encourage the OHCHR to further strengthen its prevention agenda by enhancing open-source analysis, data provenance assessments and technological capacity to absorb, process and link data from various sources.

Finally, Armenia reiterates its adherence to One China policy and commends China for its determination to eradicate poverty.

I thank you.

First Right of Reply

President,

Armenia requested the floor to exercise its right of reply to Azerbaijan’s reply to our statement. We didn’t specifically mention Azerbaijan in it, however, we are glad that Azerbaijan identified itself as an aggressor state and replied to our statement.

In September 2020 Azerbaijan unleashed an aggression against Nagorno-Karabakh, in a time when the whole world was preoccupied with countering COVID-19 pandemic. It perpetrated ethnic cleansing over the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh it captured, invaded, and occupied sovereign territories of the Republic of Armenia.

That is a blatant breach of the Charter of the United Nations, its purposes and principles of peaceful settlement of disputes, prevention and removal of threats to the peace and refraining from the use of force.

During and after the aggression Azerbaijan committed gross violations of the international humanitarian law and of the international human rights law. It indiscriminately targeted civilian facilities such as residences, schools, markets and hospitals, causing enormous suffering and civilian casualties. The cases of extrajudicial executions, decapitations, mutilations, cruel, inhumane, and degrading treatment were documented by such organizations as Bellingcat, Human Rights Watch, Freedom House and Amnesty International.

Today Azerbaijan brazenly violates the IHL by keeping under its custody the Armenian Prisoners of War. It refuses to cooperate with the European Court of Human Rights on latter’s interim measures for those detainees. There are dozens of documented cases of enforced disappearances. Hundreds of missing persons came to add to a thousand from the first Nagorno-Karabakh war. 40.000 Armenians have been displaced since the fall of 2020 and are deprived from returning to their ancestral homes.

This March Azerbaijan exploited the international attention on Ukraine and again attacked Nagorno-Karabakh, taking control of one village, causing more displacement.

Azerbaijan continues to hamper the safe and unhindered access of humanitarian organizations to Nagorno-Karabakh. Moreover, it is openly and impudently engaged in the ethno-demographic engineering in the Armenian villages and towns that it captured. It continues the destruction of Armenian monuments in a sheer defiance to the ruling of the International Court of Justice “to prevent and punish acts of vandalism and desecration affecting Armenian cultural heritage.”

The peace in Nagorno-Karabakh should be built on the premises of justice, accountability and respect to international law. It should fully take into account the guarantees of all rights and security of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh, as well as its final status.

I thank you.

Second Right of Reply

President,

We’d like to exercise our second right of reply in response to Azerbaijan, which put forth a blatant misrepresentation and propaganda. It attempted to impose its false narrative upon this august Council.

The sanctimonious talks of peace that representatives of Azerbaijan pursue in the high-end salons around the globe are not matched with the corresponding appropriate actions on the ground.

Azerbaijan continues to violate the letter and spirit of the international humanitarian law by keeping hostage the combatant and civilian detainees that should have been released and repatriated long ago without any preconditions.

Azerbaijan weaponizes their suffering, unlawful and arbitrary detention to drive a bargain. It is coupled with the Government-induced and propagated extreme manifestation of intolerance and hate towards Armenians. It does not come as a surprise that the International Court of Justice has recently ordered Azerbaijan to “take all necessary measures to prevent the incitement and promotion of racial hatred and discrimination, including by its officials and public institutions, targeted at persons of Armenian national or ethnic origin.”

Instead, the Government of Azerbaijan pursues an ethno-centric approach with the well-declared objective to force the indigenous Armenian population out of their homeland.

Impunity leads to new ethnically motivated crimes. Hence, Armenia calls not to turn a blind eye to Azerbaijan’s violations of the international humanitarian law and of the international human rights law.

I thank you.

MFA RA
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