Artsakh residents call on UN to put pressure on Azerbaijan 

ArmInfo. A group of Artsakh residents met with the UN Resident Coordinator in Armenia, Francoise  Jacob, and presented their demands.

On July 9, a group of Artsakh residents held a protest in front of  the UN office in Yerevan with a demand to put pressure on Azerbaijan  in order to preserve historical, cultural, spiritual monuments and  private property in Artsakh.

4 participants of the last action took part in the meeting with the  representative of the World Organization.  The meeting took place at  the UN office and lasted an hour and a half in the Chatham House  format.

According to a message received by ArmInfo, the protesters voiced a  number of issues that cause them concern. In particular, attention  was drawn to the fact that the issue of Artsakh has been moved from  the political and legal to the humanitarian plane; the rights of the  residents of Artsakh are not protected. It was noted that the  government of Armenia does not represent or protect the interests of  the people of Artsakh.  Citizens of Artsakh, who have temporarily  lost their homeland, their homes, property, cemeteries and heritage  in Artsakh, being outside their homeland, are also deprived of their  rights: to self-determination, residence in the historical territory,  property rights. In this regard, they asked: does the UN consider the  Artsakh issue closed under these conditions; if so, does the UN  consider military aggression, genocide, blockade, ethnic cleansing an  acceptable method of resolving the conflict; and if not, does the  organization have a vision to solve the problem? The meeting  participants also asked how the UN could force Azerbaijan to comply  with the decisions of the Hague Court? Let us recall that the first  decision of December 7, 2021 on the application of urgent measures  was based on a claim filed by Armenia in the framework of the case  "Armenia v. Azerbaijan", which is considered in the context of the  International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial  Discrimination. It obliges Azerbaijan, among other things, to take  all necessary measures to prevent and punish acts of vandalism and  desecration of Armenian cultural heritage, including churches and  other places of worship, monuments, landmarks, cemeteries and  artifacts. And the second is the decision of November 17, 2023, by  which the Court obliged Azerbaijan to ensure the unimpeded and safe  entry or exit of persons who left Nagorno-Karabakh as a result of  events that occurred after September 19, 2023. The International  Court also ordered Azerbaijan to preserve and not destroy documents  confirming the rights and property of residents of Nagorno-Karabakh.

"We ask the UN to put pressure on Azerbaijan so that it preserves our  private property and spiritual and cultural heritage until our  return," the Artsakh people said in a message following the meeting.

"Examples of the destruction of Armenian historical, cultural,  spiritual heritage, as well as private property and entire  settlements, were presented in detail through photographs and other  materials, which is a violation of the 2003 UNESCO Declaration on the  Deliberate Destruction of Cultural Heritage and Article 27 of the  Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The right of return of Artsakh citizens is presented on conditions  that the Artsakh people themselves consider reasonable and within the  framework of international law. These conditions are set out in a  letter of appeal addressed to international structures, which was  signed by 215 non-governmental organizations and political forces of  Artsakh.

The still unresolved issue of Armenian prisoners in Baku was raised.  It was stated that the decision to hold the UN climate conference  (COP19) in Baku was wrong and it was noted that the visit of UN  representatives to Baku could be justified if they took the  opportunity to visit Artsakh and answer the question: "why are there  no Armenians in Artsakh?" All the issues discussed were registered by  Francoise Jacob, who, in turn, promised to present them to the  relevant bodies of the organization," the Artsakh people said in a  statement following the meeting.