HRC 57th Session Item 3: ID with Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation

16 September, 2024

Delivered by Ms Anna Sargsyan, Second Secretary

President,

Armenia welcomes the Special Rapporteur and thanks for his report.

Protection, reasonable use and proper management of water resources play a key role for the socio-economic development of any country. Armenia is not an exception.

In our efforts for enhancing social justice, ecological sustainability and economic efficiency in the process of water management, we do our best to ensure that gender equality and women's participation are fully upheld.

Armenia makes strides for the greater approximation of the national water policy to the UN multilateral environmental agreements. Thus, we periodically submit voluntary reports to the United Nations, in particular on the Protocol on Water and Health, and in this regard, significant progress has been achieved in bringing our national sectoral goals and action programs in line with the protocol.

It is also noteworthy that Armenia-EU Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement contains ambitious commitments in the field of water management.

Armenia has adopted a strategy for the period of 2021-2030 for achieving the 6th SDG which aims, among others to the recognition of the fundamental human right of improving human health by providing access to water, water supply and sanitation services.

I thank you.

Right of reply

Mr. President,

Armenia takes the floor to refute all allegations of Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijan has a long history of weaponizing the water resources in its pattern of unjust and unprovoked aggressions against Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh.

This has also been the case with the nine month long inhumane blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh imposed by Azerbaijan, which was followed by the military attack and ethnic cleansing. In accordance to the International Court of Justice (and I quote) “residents of this region have been severely impacted by the long-lasting disruption of the connection between Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia via the Lachin Corridor. There have been hindrances to the importation into Nagorno-Karabakh of essential goods, causing shortages of food, medicine and other life-saving medical supplies.

The Court further observed that, according to United Nations reports, more than 100,000 persons of Armenian national or ethnic origin have found themselves compelled to leave their place of residence and reach the Armenian border since the operation commenced by Azerbaijan in Nagorno-Karabakh on 19 September 2023.” (end of quote)

In this context, the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation, the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment, as well as the right to health of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh were grossly violated. Due to the disruption of energy supplies the population in Nagorno-Karabakh received three times less drinking water than prior to the blockade. Communities lacking access to drinking water had no alternative choice but to utilize untreated water from nearby rivers or streams, posing risk of spreading infections. In addition, due to the shortage of drinking water, the incidence of intestinal infections, especially among children, increased by about 60%.

Meanwhile Azerbaijan targeted water reservoirs on the sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia in the vicinity of the state border. Azerbaijan occupied and continues to keep under its control some territories of Armenia thus grossly violating the UN Charter.

As for the recycled allegations of Azerbaijan on purported misuse of Armenia of water resources then all of them have long proved to be false. In particular, when it comes to the water pollution, the joint exercise that included Armenia, Azerbaijan, OSCE, NATO, ENVSEC came to the conclusion that despite allegations, the water flows coming down from the Armenian mountains to Azerbaijan have not been polluted. In response to this conclusion Azerbaijan simply stopped any kind of cooperation in this field.

I thank you.

2^nd Right of reply

Mr. President,

Armenia takes the floor to exercise its second right of reply to Azerbaijan.

In September 2023 the entire population of Nagorno- Karabakh has been forcibly displaced from its ancestral homeland. In this regard, the Freedom House concluded that (I quote) “the documented actions of Azerbaijan meet the criteria for ethnic cleansing as understood in the context of the former Yugoslavia conflict, inflicting it through means of extrajudicial executions, torture, arbitrary arrests and detention, restrictions on the access to food and life-saving medication, forcible removal, displacement and deportation of civilian population, deliberate military attacks or threats of attacks on civilians and civilian areas. The fact-finding mission has determined that there is sufficient evidence to conclude that these practices as well as other acts cited in this summary also constitute crimes under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, including Article 7 (crimes against humanity), and Article 8 (war crimes), and align with the definition of deportation or forcible transfer of population.” (end of quote)

Azerbaijan continues to disregard the rulings of the European Court of Human Rights to provide information on Armenian detainees in Azerbaijan, as it ignores the provisional orders of the ICJ pertaining to the protection of the rights of Armenian detainees, as well as prevention of anti-Armenian incitement and promotion of racial hatred, including by its officials and public institutions.

The international community must stay vigilant and use all resources and mechanisms at its disposal to hold Azerbaijan accountable for its abuses of human rights.

Thank you.

MFA RA
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