An online discussion called “Human Rights Challenges a Year After the 44-Day War in Nagorno-Karabakh” took place on November 8 at the initiative of Open Society Foundations. The aim of the discussion was to thoroughly reflect on human rights situation related to the Nagorno Karabakh conflict after the war, the humanitarian crisis that exists after the armed conflict and the role of international organizations, particularly that of European Union, OSCE, Council of Europe and the UN.
Heidi Hautala, the vice-president of the European Parliament and a member of the European Parliament in the Greens/European Free Alliance group; the human rights defender (Ombudsman) of Republic of Armenia Arman Tatoyan; Levon Gevorgyan, a lawyer, member of the team of advocates representing Armenia in the International Court of Justice of the UN and candidate of Science of Law; Siranush Sahakyan, a human rights lawyer and co-founder of the “Path of Law” NGO were the main speakers at the online event organized by OSF-Armenia.
Opening the discussion, the vice-president of the European Parliament Heidi Hautala expressed her conviction that the European Union can play an important role in protecting and safeguarding of human rights after the 44-day war in Artsakh. According to her, the EU can put forward a wider diplomatic initiative and act with a new strategy concerning the relations with South Caucasus countries. Heidi Hautala has especially emphasized the urgency for sending out an international mission which will monitor the situation on the border and will document the violations of human rights. “The European Parliament can and should call for such a mission, and there are also partners that can contribute to implementation of that mission. And here I would like to mention about the role of the European Union, OSCE and Council of Europe. I think they all can put in place something meaningful”, said the vice-president of the European Parliament. She attached importance to the discussion organized by the OSF-Armenia and continuous engagement of the Foundation in the area of human rights in Armenia.
In her speech human rights lawyer Siranush Sahakyan talked about and presented new details on the ill treatment and torture of Armenian prisoners of war kept in Azerbaijan emphasizing that these cases constitute brutal violations of international humanitarian law and require unambiguous assessment by international organizations. “It is necessary to name the violations of human rights exactly as they are, and there is no need to put an equality sign between the parties as it is sometimes done by political actors”, emphasized the human rights lawyer and added that there are numerous documented facts about ill treatment and torture of Armenian prisoners of war and civilians by Azerbaijan which are impossible to ignore or deny. Siranush Sahakyan believes that it is necessary to conduct international investigation to disclose human rights violations and war crimes as well as hold liable the authors of crime and violence. “It is necessary to identify all those, including high-ranking officials who are involved in these crimes and, other than political appeals, implement real actions with tangible results, such as imposing sanctions against these people”, she mentioned.
Human Rights Defender Arman Tatoyan said in his speech that after the war the armed forces of Azerbaijan have appeared in the vicinity of and on the roads of Syunik and Gegharkunik regions of Armenia, thus creating a threat for a new war. “We should acknowledge that other than political and military dimension this war has also another one – a human rights dimension. However, the human rights component is totally ignored. The armed forces of Azerbaijan violate the rights of Armenian population living by the border almost every day. And as we had suggested, establishing a security zone is a must in order to restore the normal life of those living by the border and to start negotiations on demarcation and delimitation. However, restoring the human rights should be ensured first of all,” said the Ombudsman of Armenia.
Arman Tatoyan also reflected on the armenophobic policy that Azerbaijan conducts on state level. “The armenophobic and hostility propaganda implemented with state patronage of Azerbaijan as an underlying cause for the violation of rights of the populations of Armenia and Artsakh have two main pillars – ethnic and religious. This politics of Azerbaijan is also a threat for the democracy and human rights of those countries where Armenians and Azerbaijanis live. This is a policy of keeping the enmity between two nations active and alive throughout the whole world”, said the Ombudsman of Armenia.
The other speaker at the event was Levon Gevorgyan, a member of the team of attorneys representing Armenia in the International Court of Justice of the UN who, in addition to other issues, stressed the spread of racism and hate speech by Azerbaijani authorities and impingements to Armenian cultural heritage. According to Levon Gevorgyan, the international community should be very explicit in its statements without shunning from condemning Azerbaijan’s politics of racism and discrimination. “The international community should be clear in its attitudes as to which party has breached or is breaching international obligations and human rights”, mentioned the lawyer.
The participants of the discussion shared an opinion that the active and much wider involvement of international organizations is extremely important at this point. In particular, at EU’s support positioning of monitoring mission on the border with the mandate of OSCE and UN’s High Commissioner of Human Rights office will help to react in a targeted manner to the situation on the border and human rights violations there. The speakers have also underlined the necessity of ensuring unrestricted access of international organization to Artsakh, particularly for UNESCO.
It was especially emphasized during the discussion that the international community should ensure proper assessment to the events happening in present and should not put equality sign between Armenia and Azerbaijan. The international organizations should be more honest in their public statements and policy especially when the issue is about immediate repatriation of prisoners of war, as well as manifestations of discrimination and hate speech against Armenians by high-ranking officials of Azerbaijan.