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

HRC 54 Session: Item 4 – General Debate. Right of Reply

28 September, 2023

Mr. President,

Armenia extends its appreciation to all states that reflected on the dire human rights and humanitarian situation in Nagorno-Karabakh.

In response to Azerbaijan, we would like to state that the unprovoked and unjustified attack against Nagorno-Karabakh on 19 September 2023, the indiscriminate targeting of civilian objects and infrastructure led to numerous casualties among the population, including children, women and older persons.

Special Adviser of the United Nation’s Secretary-General on the Prevention of Genocide alarmed about the “risk of violence, including risk of genocide and related atrocity crimes.” She urged to prevent it.

This is a call for prevention of violence coming from the UN official that is entitled to warn the member states when the early warning signs of genocide and related mass atrocity crimes are identified. It is a call for action in line with our collective pledge to ensure that “never again” is consistently implemented for all and everywhere.

During the previous military hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh and on the sovereign territories of the Republic of Armenia, Azerbaijan committed gross violations of international humanitarian law and the international human rights law, including extrajudicial executions, enforced disappearances, arbitrary detentions, torture and other inhumane and degrading treatment of prisoners of war and civilian detainees. These violations have been internationally identified and denounced, including by the UN human rights experts. There is a great risk that these crimes can be repeated, since the civilian population is now basically left defenseless.

The UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial executions yesterday called on Azerbaijan to “guarantee the rights of ethnic Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh and ensure that the lives of civilians, detained persons are respected and protected in line with its international obligations.”

There are many other signals of looming violations of IHL and IHRL against the Armenian population. However, even before the military attack, a number of international human rights organizations, independent experts, including the former ICC Prosecutor, the first Special Advisor to the UN Secretary General on the Prevention of Genocide, the Global Action Against Mass Atrocity Crimes, the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect have alerted on the risk of commission of genocide in Nagorno-Karabakh.

The nine-months-long blockade of the Lachin Corridor and the siege of the Nagorno-Karabakh, which preceded this large-scale military offensive are parts of a wider picture of the Azerbaijan’s systematic policy to subject the population of Nagorno-Karabakh to ethnic cleansing. This must stop.

I thank you.

Second Right of Reply

President,

We would like to exercise our second right of reply to Azerbaijan.

The atrocious offensive of Azerbaijan of 19 September, which claimed numerous innocent lives was cynically defined as a “local counter-terrorist operation.” Since its beginning Azerbaijan has claimed the creation of so-called “humanitarian corridors” in an attempt to drive Armenians out of Nagorno-Karabakh under the threat of extermination. It is nothing short of a well-orchestrated ethnic cleansing. Meanwhile, the population of Nagorno-Karabakh, who have been exhausted by the blockade, among them children, women, older persons, remain at the mercy of their tormentors.

Azerbaijan acts in sheer defiance of the purposes and principles of the UN Charter and core human rights documents. It openly challenges the international community by unleashing the military offensive on the day of the opening of the High-Level Segment of the UN General Assembly. The leadership of Azerbaijan claimed on several occasions that “in the present-day world the international law does not work and the power factor comes to the fore.” Hence, Azerbaijan resorts to the use of force, refuses to implement a number of binding rulings of the ICJ and the European Court of Human Rights. On numerous occasions Azerbaijan committed not to use force and, furthermore, to seek a diplomatic solution of the dispute, but has always failed to live up with this commitment, so far with no visible consequences.

In the face of such a blatant defiance, we believe that all those who care about the preservation of the international law and the protection of human rights should express themselves loud and clear.

I thank you.

MFA RA
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