HRC 51st Session: Interactive Dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence: Delivered by Mr. Nairi PETROSSIAN, Deputy Permanent Representative

16 September, 2022

16 September 2022

HRC 51^st Session

Interactive Dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence

Delivered by Mr. Nairi PETROSSIAN, Deputy Permanent Representative

President,

Armenia warmly welcomes Mr. Fabián Salvioli to the Council and thanks him for the presentation of his reports. We attach great importance to this mandate which is part and parcel of the overarching work carried out by the United Nations towards prevention of genocide. In this context, Armenia welcomes the openness demonstrated and cooperation extended to the SR during his recent country visits.

Armenia concurs with Mr. Salvioli that a victim-centered approach to transitional justice places primary emphasis on the rights, agency and perspectives of victims. We also agree that distinctions between State and non-State actors can become blurred, and that States sometimes use non-State actors or indeed mercenaries as proxy agents to carry out human rights violations.

In this context we recall numerous credible reports about training and using proxy forces recruited from Syria by “Sadat International Defense Consultancy” in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

We would appreciate the SR’s views on how the existing international mechanisms can be utilized for ensuring accountability for the states using mercenaries in committing human rights violations?

I thank you.

First Right of Reply

President,

My delegation requested the floor to exercise its right of reply in response to the statement by Azerbaijan made during the ID with the Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence.

We took note of the overzealous statement Azerbaijan delivered. We reject the unfounded allegations made by Azerbaijan and directed against Armenia. The problem is that Azerbaijan needs to address certain issues before publicly displaying such a zeal. International humanitarian law has long been the primary regulatory framework for addressing it. All persons deprived of their liberty should be released and repatriated without delay after cessation of active military hostilities. Hostage-taking is strictly prohibited. The detention of prisoners and internees should not be prolonged for bargaining purposes. If Azerbaijan is serious about addressing the issues it spoke about, it should first and foremost address in good faith implementation of its obligations under International Humanitarian Law.

President,

There is a lot of homework for Azerbaijan to do, and it is not limited exclusively to the International Humanitarian Law. In 2007 the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination had required Azerbaijan to stop its discriminatory treatment of ethnic Armenians. Azerbaijan, however, ignored Committees’ demands and went on with its policy of ethnic cleansing. Most recently, during consideration of Azerbaijan’s reports within the framework of the 107th session of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) in August 2022, Committee expert Chinsung Chung noted (and I quote): “There had been many reports on the racially motivated killings of ethnic Armenian civilians, and the violent torture and execution of persons of Armenian origin by Azerbaijani authorities and military personnel” (end of quote).

As a result of Azerbaijan’s well-documented policy of ethnic cleansing, the enjoyment of economic, social, cultural and political rights by Armenians were grossly violated. For instance, in March of this year, Azerbaijan cut natural gas supplies to Nagorno-Karabakh, depriving over 100 000 people from heating and hot water during extreme cold weather.

These are not random facts that we happen to observe. We are feeling the first-hand dreary consequences of Azerbaijan’s neglect to its international obligations and the conduct that stems thereof. The most recent example of it has been the military aggression Azerbaijan launched on 13 September 2022 against the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Republic of Armenia.

I thank you.

Second Right of Reply

President,

Armenia would like to exercise its second right of reply in response to the statement just made by Azerbaijan.

It is a well-established fact that the wars imposed upon the people of Nagorno-Karabakh in the course of 30 years by Azerbaijan were marked by ethnic cleansing and massacres. Azerbaijan’s anti-Armenian policy and hatred remarkably manifested itself during the war in fall 2020. The wartime statements of Azerbaijani politicians called for the killing and extermination of the entire civilian population in Nagorno-Karabakh. The anti-Armenian policy of Azerbaijan was demonstrated also by the widespread destruction of Armenian cultural heritage sites, which aimed at the erasure of Armenian history in Nagorno-Karabakh. This racist policy continues in depriving the Armenian PoWs and civilian detainees of their basic human rights.

Azerbaijan never waists an opportunity to resort to intimidation against the civilian population of Nagorno-Karabakh. In particular, Azerbaijan used loudspeakers coercing the residents to leave their homes.

Azerbaijan launched a war of aggression against the Republic of Armenia few days ago. A number of UN member states urged Azerbaijan to cease the hostilities. We hope these calls will sober Azerbaijan up.

The constant attempts of Azerbaijan to carry out ethnic cleansing, either through explicit military aggression or through depriving Armenians of their basic human rights, violate numerous norms of international law. In no circumstances should the international community give a blank license to Azerbaijan to pursue its ethnic cleansing campaign.

I thank you

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