HRC 57th Session: Item 3: General Debate

21 September, 2024

Delivered by Hrachuhi Katvalyan, Deputy Permanent Representative

President,

The path to peace lays through the full respect for all human rights – civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights. States that are notorious for violations of these rights may also likely threaten the peace. And this is exactly what happened in our region where the pattern of gross violations of human rights committed by Azerbaijan culminated in ethnic cleansing of Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh.

The International Court of Justice observed in this regard that (and I quote) “according to United Nations reports, more than 100,000 Armenians have found themselves compelled to leave their place of residence since the operation commenced by Azerbaijan in Nagorno-Karabakh.” (end of quote)

The new wave of arrests and unprecedented level of crackdown in Azerbaijan testify to the worsening of the human rights situation. The observation mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe recently concluded that “Azerbaijan’s elections devoid of real competition amid diminishing respect for fundamental freedoms.”

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe did not ratify the credentials of the Azerbaijani delegation, since the country has “not fulfilled major commitments.”

With this dire record, Azerbaijan continues to pose risk to the regional peace.

Thank you.

1^st Right of Reply

Mr. President,

Armenia requested the floor to exercise its right of reply to Azerbaijan.

Most recently, in its concluding observations on the fifth periodic report of Azerbaijan in June 2024, the Committee against Torture expressed its concern “by reports of severe and grave violations of international humanitarian law and human rights law committed by Azerbaijani military forces against prisoners of war and other protected persons of Armenian ethnic or national origin, including extrajudicial killings, torture and other ill-treatment, and the recording and dissemination of videos that appear to depict horrifying acts involving beheadings of living individuals, the desecration and mutilation of corpses…”. The Committee then stated, “that any violations of international humanitarian law and human rights law related to the conflict in the region, or otherwise related to the treatment of ethnic or national Armenians, are completely unacceptable…”.

During the consideration of Azerbaijan’s reports in 2022 one of the members of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) recalled that through the early warning and urgent action procedure, the Committee had required Azerbaijan to cease its discriminatory treatment of ethnic Armenians back in 2007. There were a number of other early warning signs on looming atrocities that remained unaddressed. As a result, in 2022 the CERD was compelled to express its deep concern on the “severe and grave human rights violations committed during the 2020 hostilities and beyond by Azerbaijani military forces against prisoners of war and other protected persons of Armenian ethnic or national origin – including extrajudicial killings, torture and other ill-treatment and arbitrary detention, as well as the destruction of houses, schools and other civilian facilities; the destruction of and damage to Armenian cultural heritage, including to churches and other places of worship; Incitement to racial hatred and the propagation of racist stereotypes against persons of Armenian ethnic and national origins, including in social media, by public figures and government officials.”

In an atmosphere of impunity Azerbaijan committed ethnic cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh. As the former Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence, Mr. Fabián Salvioli reported “the displaced population faced numerous challenges, including loss of means of livelihood, employment, property, material and intangible cultural heritage, family ties and access to vital records and registries.”

Such reports of the UN Human Rights machinery should follow by meaningful actions.

I thank you

2^nd Right of Reply

Mr. President,

We exercise our second right of reply to Azerbaijan.

In October last year the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe adopted a resolution strongly condemning the military operation launched by the Azerbaijani army in Nagorno-Karabakh on 19 September 2023. The Assembly stated that the massive exodus of almost the entire Armenian population from the region had led to “reasonable suspicion that this can amount to ethnic cleansing”.

The European Parliament also condemned in the strongest terms the pre-planned and unjustified military attack by Azerbaijan against the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh. 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.

The Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights observed in this regard that 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.”

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 the fate of around 1000 missing persons and mass graves. On the contrary, Azerbaijan announced an amnesty for all those who participated in the wars against Nagorno-Karabakh, conveniently putting to rest even theoretical possibilities for accountability.

I thank you.

MFA RA
official website

Dual citizenship

Electronic visa

Visa applications