Representative of the RA Human Rights
Defender, Ms. Anna Karapetyan participated in the OSCE Supplementary Human
Dimension Meeting I entitled “International co-operation to address
violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights
law”, which took place in March 28-29, 2022, in Vienna.
Issues related to the requirements and
application of international humanitarian law and human rights law were
discussed during the meeting, focusing on the situation of the civilian
population in conflict zones and the impact of the conflict on them; best
practice in documenting and investigating human rights and international
humanitarian law violations, including issues related to digital technologies
supporting national human rights institutions.
During the meeting, the representative
of the Office of the Human Rights Defender made a speech, referring to the human
rights and international humanitarian law violations by Azerbaijan during the
Artsakh war, as well as the humanitarian crisis in Artsakh as a result of the
war.
The representative of the Office of the
Human Rights Defender presented the violations of international humanitarian
law against the border population of the Republic of Armenia by the Azerbaijani
side, the human rights violations and the torture of prisoners of war by the
Azerbaijani authorities, referring to the facts presented in the ad hoc reports
of the Human Rights Defender.
In particular, the fact that the
presence of the Azerbaijani armed forces has posed serious humanitarian
problems to the border residents of Armenia was mentioned in the speech. Due to
the behavior of the Azerbaijani authorities, which violate all well-known norms
of international law, people in Artsakh have been deprived of gas supply for
weeks, which disturbs the implementation of the latter's right to health,
education, work, and other fundamental rights. The recent aggressive acts of
Azerbaijan have caused not only social but also serious security issues.
The representative of the Office of the
Human Rights Defender made a particular reference to the urgency of the need to
return the prisoners of war and civilian captives still held in Azerbaijan.
During the speech, the criminal
behavior of Azerbaijan was strongly condemned, and a call was made to national
human rights institutions and international organizations to act to stop the
genocidal policy against Artsakh. In their speech, the representative of the
Office of the Human Rights Defender emphasized the importance of securing the
presence of international organizations in conflict zones, both during and in
the post-conflict periods, as a mechanism of guaranteeing and protecting the
rights of the civilian population.
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