Wednesday, March 30 2022 17:24

ArmInfo.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.

As the press service of the RA Human Rights Defender reports, 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 Azerbaijan. 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.