HRC 54 Session: Item 2: General debate: Right of reply to the statement delivered by Azerbaijan

14 September, 2023

President,

Armenia requested the floor to exercise its right of reply to Azerbaijan and Pakistan that spoke on behalf of the OIC.

Three years ago, Azerbaijan unleashed an aggression against Nagorno-Karabakh. One year ago, it unleashed another aggression and occupied sovereign territories of the Republic of Armenia. Azerbaijan committed despicable violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law during these aggressions. These breaches were duly reflected by the international community, including by the UN Special Procedure Mandate Holders. Azerbaijan should give a due consideration to the calls and recommendations of the mandate holders to cease the human rights violations, instead of criticizing them.

However, the mandate holders are not the only ones ignored by Azerbaijan. It blatantly disregards the two binding orders of the International Court of Justice to ensure the freedom of movement along the Lachin Corridor. It ignores the calls of the UN Secretary General, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and many others in this regard.

It doesn’t come as a surprise that Azerbaijan did not even make a reference to this humanitarian crisis earlier today at this Council, totally ignoring the suffering of the 120.000 civilians who are on the brink of starvation due to the nine months long inhumane blockade of the Lachin Corridor. It is convenient for Azerbaijan to turn a blind eye to the human rights violations perpetrated by itself. We believe that it is not the same for the international community.

The human rights violations committed by Azerbaijan have a long history. In the modern era they started by the massacres of ethnic Armenians in Azerbaijan in 1990s and the war that led to the expulsion of around 400.000 Armenians. During the last war in 2020 another 40.000 Armenians were displaced and they have never been allowed to return to their ancestral homes. No one has been prosecuted in Azerbaijan for extrajudicial executions, forced disappearances, arbitrary detentions of prisoners of war, torture and other violations, which have been duly registered in the reports of reputable international watchdogs. No one investigates in Azerbaijan the fate of around 1000 missing persons and mass graves of ethnic Armenians.

President,

Armenia will keep persistently communicating that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is not a religious one and it cannot be anointed in religious terms. It is unfortunate that Azerbaijan continues to abuse its membership to the OIC to distort the conflict-related realities. Armenia enjoys good relations with nearly all OIC members. We are concerned that the support that Azerbaijan receives from a very few OIC members emboldens it to continue its destructive policy.

I thank you.

MFA RA
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