Azerbaijan resorts to human rights violations in the absence of clear international reaction – Amb. Hovhannisyan

Azerbaijan has intensified the violations of human rights of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh, Andranik Hovhannisyan, Armenia’s Permanent Representative to the Un Office in Geneva, said at the Human Rights Council debate on “Human rights situation that require Council’s attention.”

“For more than ten days the gas pipeline that supplies hydrocarbon energy to Nagorno-Karabakh was cut from the territories that are under control of armed forces of Azerbaijan. The latter obstructed the access to the area for conducting necessary mending activities, leaving more than 120 thousand people to freeze in the still winter conditions of the mountainous terrain,” the Ambassador said.

“The Ombudsperson of Nagorno-Karabakh registered that the temperature in the hospitals was 15 degrees Celsius at best, which affected also the treatment of 51 newborns and their mothers at the maternity wards. 65% of the schools in Nagorno-Karabakh stopped operating. The attendance of the kindergartens dropped down to 22%,” he added.

He noted that the disruption of gas was not an isolated incident. Besides that, Azerbaijan constantly exerts to the threat and use of force, as well as obstructs the people from obtaining their means of subsistence, if we are to name but a few of its actions.

“Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person. Azerbaijan should get a clear signal that at all times and circumstances the protection of these inalienable rights prescribed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights should not be compromised,” the Permanent Representative stated.

“Azerbaijan has turned the disruption of gas supply to Nagorno-Karabakh into a weapon of collective punishment of the people. For ten days residential buildings, hospitals and schools were left without heating. The gas supply was restored briefly during the weekend only to be cut again on Monday. Yesterday, the civilians of Nagorno-Karabakh – children, elderly, disabled people – again were obliged to spend a night without heating in the freezing winter conditions of minus four degrees Celsius. It is a humanitarian disaster,” Andranik Hovhannisyan stated.

“Azerbaijan resorts to these violations of human rights in the absence of clear and loud international reaction. We emphasize the necessity of sending a strong signal that the human rights should be respected at all times and in all circumstances. This is a collective commitment, which requires an unwavering support,” he said.

“Azerbaijan installed loudspeakers in the vicinity of the Armenian villages close to the Line-of-Contact. It has been intimidating and terrorizing the rural indigenous population by threats spread through those loudspeakers, forcing the civilian population to leave their ancestral homes,” the Ambassador added.

“Azerbaijan has also kept under fire those villages. Some villages have already evacuated women, children and elderly, which came to add to another 40 000 Armenians who were displaced by the recent war,” he added.

“We also highlight that Azerbaijan exploits the HRC floor to disseminate ungrounded allegations. In this context Armenia would like to remind that International Court of Justice by its order of 7 December 2021 practically rejected a number of allegations that had been put forth by Azerbaijan. The Court having considered the terms of the provisional measures requested by Azerbaijan ruled out, in particular, the false narrative that Azerbaijan has been actively promoting and pushing forward on the demining-related operations. Moreover, Armenia, as a humanitarian gesture, has handed to Azerbaijan all the maps of the minefields under its disposal,” Amb. Hovhannisyan noted.

In the same manner, he said, Azerbaijan tends to ignore the plight of more than 1 000 missing persons from Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh. The truth is that over the years Azerbaijan rejected any cooperation in this regard, he stressed.