HRC 54 Session: Item 4 – General Debate - Embassy of Armenia to Switzerland and Permanent Mission of Armenia to the UN office at Geneva

HRC 54 Session: Item 4 – General Debate

26 September, 2023

Delivered by Ambassador Andranik Hovhannisyan, Permanent Representative

President,

Azerbaijan aims at finalizing the ethnic cleansing of Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh. Several thousands of people have already been forcefully displaced and found refuge in the Republic of Armenia, due to the recent unprovoked and unjustified military hostilities unleashed by Azerbaijan.

After months of diplomatic negotiations Azerbaijan once again abruptly resorted to a military escalation, in a sheer defiance to numerous international calls and its own soundly articulated commitment not to use force. In doing so Azerbaijan has grossly violated the international law, including the core purposes and principles of the UN Charter. The nine-months long inhumane siege of Nagorno-Karabakh, weaponization of food and humanitarian access have yet been other stages of the systematic policy of ethnic cleansing that proceeded this aggression. Furthermore, Azerbaijan has persistently refused to implement a number of binding orders of the International Court of Justice and the provisional measures of the European Court of Human Rights on the issues related to the human rights of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh. Such a blatant negligence of the international law and human rights is a vivid sign of an intent to commit gross violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law.

The Special Adviser of the UN Secretary-General on the Prevention of Genocide has already expressed her alarm that the recent military escalation by Azerbaijan in Nagorno-Karabakh can “put the civilian population at risk of violence, including risk of genocide and related atrocity crimes.” She urged to prevent it.

We hope that the international community will heed to this call.

I thank you.

MFA RA
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