Armenian human rights defenders call on UN to pay attention to Azerbaijan’s actions

The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination should urge the authorities of Azerbaijan to bring to justice those responsible for inciting xenophobia and racism, as well as those responsible for war crimes, and ensure the protection of the Armenian cultural and historical heritage in the territories controlled by Azerbaijan, the report prepared by five human rights organizations states.

Armenian human rights defenders have prepared a report on violation by Azerbaijan of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. The report will be presented in August at the 107th session of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD). In particular, the human rights defenders collected facts of the violations by Azerbaijan of human rights and humanitarian law during the war in Nagorno-Karabakh in 2020, the destruction and falsification of the Armenian cultural heritage of Nagorno-Karabakh, and the xenophobic policy of the Azerbaijan’s authorities.

The report cites dozens of facts of the murders, torture, and extrajudicial executions of Armenians, war crimes, in particular, the beheading of Armenian soldiers and civilians, as well as abuse of their bodies during the wars of 2016 and 2020. Authors of the report emphasize that those who committed the above crimes went unpunished.

The authors of the report recommended that the UN CERD to urge the authorities of Azerbaijan to put an end to the incitement of xenophobia and racism, bring those responsible for war crimes to justice, and ensure the protection of the Armenian cultural and historical heritage in the territories under the control of Azerbaijan.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on July 21, 2022 at 02:16 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.