Since September 27, the Human Rights Defender of Armenia has
been monitoring the situation closely, the investigations reveal that the huge
number of military attacks against Artsakh and Armenia are indiscriminate and
do not differentiate between military objects and civilian settlements, in many
cases the attacks deliberately target the civilian population.
Peaceful citizens are being killed or receive life threatening
injuries from prohibited weaponry. As the Human Rights Defender of Artsakh
regularly informs me, there are cases, when those injured are in different
cities and towns of Artsakh, but due to continous violent attacks, medical
personnel are not able to fully reach those places and provide necessary
medical treatment. According to my colleague, in Artsakh the Azerbaijani
military forces have attacked a medical emergency ambulance and a hospital.
According to official data, there were also civilians in the hospital. It is
regularly announced about deaths among military personnel.
Yesterday, I had emergency consultations with the relevant
authorities of Armenia, and the same was done by my counterpart in Artsakh. In
both cases, in Armenia and Artsakh, we received firm assurances as to the
readiness to exchange the bodies and captives. The authorities made it clear
that the absence of such a humanitarian opportunity is utterly impermissible.
Monitoring shows that this readiness has been repeatedly expressed publicly in
Armenia and Artsakh.
The current situation includes continuous and gross violations
of International Humanitarian Law, particularly the 1949 Geneva Conventions and
fundamental requirements enshrined in Customary International Law. This
includes violating the rights of injured civilians and constitutes humiliating
treatment of the bodies of those killed and inhumane treatment of their close
relatives.
I join the the public statements of concern made by the ICRC
Eurasia regional directors as of October 13 on the absence of ceasefire and
lack of opportunity to conduct their humanitarian mission. Several days ago I
also held a conversation with Claire Meytraud, Head of ICRC Delegation in
Armenia.
It is imperative to immediately stop this excessive inhumane
treatment and enable the ICRC to conduct its humanitarian mission on all sides.
This must be ensured in a way to provide actual possibility for such a mission
and not formalistic.
Հայերեն
