HRC 55th Session: Item 4. General debate

20 March, 2024

Delivered by H.E. Mr. Andranik Hovhannisyan, Permanent Representative

President,

Two days ago, Azerbaijan organized a lighting of a huge ceremonial fire in the city of Stepanakert in Nagorno-Karabakh and officially called it a “final cleaning”.

A “final cleaning” in a region where according to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe almost the entire Armenian population left their ancestral homes “out of a genuine threat of physical extinction, a long-standing policy of hatred towards Armenians, and a lack of trust in their future treatment.”

A “final cleaning” in a region, where according to the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights for Armenians “leaving home was the only reasonable option available” out of the “deep-rooted fear for their lives” and “future stemming from previous unresolved atrocities and ongoing intimidatory acts.”

A “final cleaning” in a region, where according to the joint statement supported by forty states here at the HRC the “massive displacement of Armenians from their homes stemmed from Azerbaijan’s military operation and nine-month long blockage of the Lachin corridor leading to dire humanitarian conditions.”

The human rights are under serious threat when such slogans as “final cleaning” are used and remain unchallenged.

Thank you.

Right of Reply

President,

Armenia would like to exercise its right of reply to Azerbaijan.

In October last year the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) adopted a resolution strongly condemning the military operation launched by the Azerbaijani army in Nagorno-Karabakh on 19 September 2023 and regretted the “long-standing and continuing failure on the part of the authorities of Azerbaijan to reassure the Armenian population of the region of their safety and the full respect of their rights”. The Assembly stated that the massive exodus of almost the entire Armenian population from the region had led to “allegations and reasonable suspicion that this can amount to ethnic cleansing”.

In the Resolution adopted on 5^th October 2023, the European Parliament condemned in the strongest terms the pre-planned and unjustified military attack by Azerbaijan against the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh and recalled that the attack took place in the context of a major humanitarian crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh, following Azerbaijan’s blockade of the Lachin corridor, in violation of Baku’s commitments and of the legally binding orders of the ICJ. The European parliamentarians reminded Azerbaijan that the use of coercive practices to remove a civilian population from a territory may amount to a crime against humanity.

With regards to the assurances of Azerbaijan that it will respect the rights of Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh the Human Rights Watch argued that (and I quote) “such assurances are difficult to accept at face value after decades of conflict, impunity for alleged crimes, including against civilians during hostilities, the Azerbaijani government’s overall deteriorating human rights record, and the recent Azerbaijan-imposed, nine-month de facto blockade of the region, which left the Armenian population without enough food, medicine, and fuel”.

The Freedom House emphasized that (and I quote) “freedom experienced a staggering decline in Eurasia in 2023, driven largely by the Azerbaijani conquest of Nagorno-Karabakh and the expulsion of its ethnic Armenian population.”

The freedom will further deteriorate worldwide if such cases of egregious violations of human rights will remain unaddressed.

Thank you.

MFA RA
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