The unlawful taking constituting theft of 173 sheep by
Azerbaijani armed forces from the shepherd of Khndzoresk village in the Syunik
region on February 11, 2021, confirms what the Republic of Armenia (RA) Human
Rights Defender has been cautioning and forewarning about for several months.
In particular, yesterday the Khndzoresk municipality announced
that on February 11, a resident of the village of Khndzoresk in the Syunik
region, had grazed a total of 185 small cattle in the pastures near the
village. During the grazing, some of the animals approached the area controlled
by the Azerbaijani soldiers, after which the Azerbaijani armed forces
unlawfully took 173 of the 185 sheep and carried it away with the intent to
permanently deprive the shepherd of his personal property, to wit, the sheep.
The animals were returned only after negotiations between the RA
Border Troops and the Armed Forces Corps Command.
The referenced information was confirmed to the RA Human Rights
Defender by a number of villagers and community bodies. To be clear, the Syunik
regional subdivision of the Defender's Office discovered that the shepherd
himself, was not negligent in guiding his flock, but rather, was very careful,
however, the incident happened because habitually the animals historically are
accustomed to grazing in those areas; and, the relevant pastures are such that
it is difficult and quite impractical to exercise sufficient control over the
animals.
All of these factors confirm the need to guarantee the rights of
the villagers, including their safety while making use of pastures, to protect
their livelihood, and to safeguard against the dangers and/or violations of
their property rights. In order to prevent this, responsible commission work
and a correct assessment of the needs of the villagers are critical, to ensure
an unequivocal and total elimination and neutralization of all such obstacles
and concerns.
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