HRC 53nd Session: Item-2 Presentation of High Commissioner’s Annual Report

20 June, 2023

Delivered by H.E. Andranik Hovhannisyan, Permanent Representative of Armenia

President,

Armenia thanks the High Commissioner for the presentation of the Global update.

We appreciate the High Commissioner’s attention to the importance of the free and safe movement through the Lachin corridor and the need to avoid humanitarian impact on the civilians caused by its blockade. After six months of keeping the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh under the siege, last week Azerbaijan has even banned the limited humanitarian transfers conducted by the ICRC. All indications of a looming humanitarian catastrophe and an ethnic cleansing in making are in place.

Armenia supports the High Commissioner’s vision for engagement of the OHCHR in humanitarian situations and deeper integration of its guidance in early warning, early action, planning and preparedness of the UN’s operational response to conflicts.

Humanitarian actors should enjoy full, safe and unhindered access to populations in need of assistance. In this context we support the High Commissioner’s continued efforts for seeking access to the people in conflict situations. We concur that the absence of regular monitoring and contacts on the ground makes those people more vulnerable to the human rights violations. Armenia has been a staunch advocate for the engagement and presence of the UN, in particular the OHCHR, in Nagorno-Karabakh. Azerbaijan continues to hinder such an involvement.

The whole ecosystem of the international human rights bodies has already widely and extensively elaborated and reported on the violations of human rights in Nagorno-Karabakh. It is the high time for the international community’s decisive action. The UN Human Rights machinery cannot fail these people in need.

I thank you.

MFA RA
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