Thursday, August 17 2023 11:16

ArmInfo.On August 16, Minister of Foreign Affairs Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan participated in  the urgent meeting of the UN Security Council, which was convened at  the request of Armenia, on the deterioration of the humanitarian  situation in Nagorno-Karabakh resulting from the blockade of the  Lachin corridor by Azerbaijan and the total  siege of  Nagorno-Karabakh.

Ararat Mirzoyan's full speech is presented below.

"Madam President,

Distinguished colleagues,

I would like to thank the Security Council for convening this urgent  meeting to discuss the humanitarian situation in Nagorno-Karabakh  stemming from the 8-months long blockade of the Lachin corridor - the  road of life connecting Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia and the outer  world.

Today I'm here to seek the support of this august body in maintaining  the prospect of reaching just and comprehensive peace and stability  in our region, which is seriously undermined by Azerbaijan with the  humanitarian calamity on the ground in Nagorno-Karabakh.

During the last two years, Armenia, with the help of the  international community, spared no efforts to establish peace and  stability in our region. And I believe, today we still have the  opportunity to reach this aim. But the current humanitarian situation  in Nagorno-Karabakh has the full potential to deteriorate the  prospects for peace in the whole region of South Caucasus and even  beyond.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Today, I would like to elaborate, suggesting you to judge not based  on justifications that you might consider being true or false, but on  values and facts.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights starts with recognition of  the inherent dignity and the equal and inalienable rights of all  members of the human family as the foundation of freedom, justice and  peace in the world. Irrespective of their residence, all human beings  are entitled to human rights and dignity, they should be treated with  highest respect and care, even at time of war. Unfortunately, the  people of Nagorno- Karabakh are deprived of such treatment, finding  themselves in a condition of a total siege.

Now, let me present the events, facts and figures which show the  current realities in blockaded Nagorno- Karabakh.

So, November 9, 2020 - Trilateral statement signed by the leaders of  Armenia, Russia and Azerbaijan, according to Paragraph 6 of which  "The Lachin Corridor (5 km wide), which will provide a connection  between Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia., shall remain under the control  of the Russian Federation peacekeeping forces."

December 12, 2022 - Azerbaijan blocked the Lachin corridor under a  fake pretext of environmental concerns. Since then, gradual  utilization of limited domestic stocks has resulted in an acute food  shortage and closures of stores. Prior to the blockade, around 90% of  all consumed food was imported from Armenia, and with every passing  day, the people of Nagorno-Karabakh don't receive 400 tons of  essential goods daily. Currently, there is a severe lack of food,  including nutrition for kids, flour, sugar, as well as medicine, fuel  etc. Moreover, due to the absence of fuel and targeting of workers by  Azerbaijan almost all agricultural work has halted. As a result,  approximately 10,000 hectares of land adjacent to the contact line  remain uncultivated.

December 20, 2022 - The UN Security Council discussed the issue for  the first time and the vast majority of council members called  Azerbaijan to lift the blockade.

Since December, 2022 periodically and March, 2023 completely (in sum  for around 180 days) - Azerbaijan disrupted the only supply of  natural gas to Nagorno-Karabakh. Halting the gas supply has already  led to a number of adverse humanitarian consequences, such as: (1)  disruption of the work of hospitals, (2) disruption of the  educational process at the schools and kindergartens, (3) disruption  of the work of vitally important institutions and social services,  (4) inability of people to heat their homes, (5) loss of the access  of many households to hot water, (6) lack of fuel for vehicles, etc.

Since January 9, 2023 (now more than 210 days) - Azerbaijan has  disrupted the supply of electricity through the sole high-voltage  line between Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh. Since then, relying on  limited local resources of electricity, Nagorno-Karabakh had to  implement rolling power outages with only a few hours of energy  supply.

February 22, 2023  The International Court of Justice indicated a  provisional measure in the ongoing case concerning the Application of  the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of  Racial Discrimination (Armenia v. Azerbaijan), according to which  Azerbaijan shall "take all measures to ensure unimpeded movement of  persons, vehicles and cargo along the Lachin Corridor in both  directions".

April 23, 2023 - Azerbaijan, in violation of the ICJ decision and the  Trilateral Statement of November 9, 2020, installed a checkpoint in  the Lachin corridor.

June 15, 2023 - Azerbaijan went further with fully blocking the  Lachin corridor by banning any access to Nagorno-Karabakh, even  humanitarian, including of the International Committee of Red Cross.

July 6, 2023 - The International Court of Justice reconfirmed its  provisional measure from February 22, 2023.

July 25, 2023 - ICRC, the only international humanitarian  organization that has been operating in Nagorno- Karabakh for more  than 30 years, stated: "despite persistent efforts, the ICRC is not  currently able to bring humanitarian assistance to the civilian  population through the Lachin corridor or through any other routes."

July 26, 2023 - The Republic of Armenia sent a humanitarian convoy,  which up to now remains at the entrance of the Lachin corridor, as  the Azerbaijani side denies the access.

August 2, 2023 - The UN Secretary-General reiterated his deep concern  over the challenges related to the freedom of movement along the  Lachin corridor, recalling the previous statement on the need to  implement the Orders of the ICJ, "including the Orders issued on 22  February 2023 and reaffirmed on 6 July 2023, related to measures to  ensure unimpeded movement of persons, vehicles and cargo along the  Lachin corridor in both directions". The Secretary-General further  expressed particular concern about the deteriorating humanitarian  situation on the ground and called for "urgent steps to facilitate  access for the delivery of humanitarian assistance to people in  need".

August 7, 2023 - A group of the UN human rights experts: the Special  Rapporteur on the right to food, the Special Rapporteur on the right  to education, the Independent Expert on the enjoyment of all human  rights by older persons and the Special Rapporteur on the rights of  persons with disabilities expressed alarm over the ongoing blockade  of the Lachin corridor by Azerbaijan and the dire humanitarian crisis  in Nagorno- Karabakh, which "has left the population facing acute  shortages" and "placed the lives of the residents - especially  children, persons with disabilities, older persons, pregnant women,  and the sick - at significant risk."

To sum up, due to the blockade, there is no economic activity in  Nagorno-Karabakh. Thousands of people are left unemployed, as there  is no possibility to pay the salaries. Even those people that have  money are not able to buy anything, as the shelves in the stores are  empty. Women, children, elderly stay in long queues in order to be  able to buy some bread or fruits and vegetables. Sometimes they have  to pass dozens of kilometres on foot to reach empty shops and  pharmacies. The authorities of Nagorno-Karabakh had to issue ration  coupons for certain food products, including rice, porridge, sugar,  etc. There is a real threat of hunger.

Here are some other figures:

"120.000" - This is the number of people living in Nagorno-Karabakh,  which is deprived to exercise their basic human rights.

"20.000" - the number of elderly people, who are even unable to move  due to the absence of public transportation.

"30.000" - the number of children living in Nagorno-Karabakh, who are  struggling from malnutrition and lack of food.

"270"- the number of children who are not able to return and reunite  with their families in Nagorno- Karabakh

"2.000" - the number of pregnant women residing in Nagorno-Karabakh  who don't have even basic access to health care.

"9.000" - the number of people with disabilities, who are deprived of  proper medical care.

"4.700" and "8.450" - the number of people with diabetes and  circulatory diseases, respectively, who are running out of essential  medicine.

All these events have doubled the rate of deaths in Nagorno-Karabakh  for the past 8 months. Furthermore, the absence of medicine,  sanitizers and other items of hygiene create risks of epidemics.

"710" - The total number of the patients and their accompanying  persons evacuated by the ICRC throughout the whole period of blockade  that went through a humiliating procedure of proving their health  condition in order to get "permission" to be evacuated.

1 - A man with a very concrete name and surname - Vagif Khachatrian,  who was abducted at the checkpoint being transported by the ICRC to  Armenia for heart surgery. He was abducted while being under  international humanitarian protection. This is by far not the only  incident when Azerbaijan intentionally obstructed the work of the  ICRC.

Again, 1 - Another man with a very concrete name and surname - Kar?  Hovhannisyan, who passed away yesterday. And according to the autopsy  report, he died because of starvation and lasting malnutrition.

2 - 3 years old Leo and 6 years old Gita who died in Martakert, as  their mom had to leave them alone to go on foot to the nearby town  with a hope to find some food for them.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

During the previous months, many of you tried to address the issue of  opening the Lachin corridor.  However, despite all the calls, the  commitments undertaken by the Trilateral statement from November 9,  2020, the legally binding orders of the ICJ the situation did not  improve on the ground. Quite contrary, Azerbaijan incrementally but  consistently severed the blockade to the degree of complete siege of  Nagorno- Karabakh. Armenia raised its concerns on deepening the  humanitarian crisis as a result of closure of the Lachin corridor in  all negotiations with Azerbaijan, which were separately facilitated  and mediated by the United States of America, European Union, Russia.  And yet to no avail.

Throughout this time, Azerbaijan's engagement has been anything but  not in good faith. Back to the first discussion on this issue in the  Security Council, Azerbaijan denied any responsibility on the actions  thereon and even claimed that it was not controlling the Lachin  corridor. Throughout the past eight months, Azerbaijan brought a  number of pretexts aimed at justifying its actions. First, it was  so-called eco-activists with environmental concerns, then baseless  allegations of transporting arms through the Lachin corridor,  furthermore military provocations and so on.

The Lachin corridor has been agreed as a link between Armenia and  Nagorno-Karabakh and has no alternative. The Lachin corridor should  be opened, and when it comes to other possible communications, this  should be addressed within an international mechanism of  Baku-Stepanakert dialogue.

So, today I am here to seek your support to address issues of very  humanitarian nature and we expect from this Council:

to condemn the use of starvation of civilians as a method of warfare,  prohibited by international law;

to condemn the unlawful denial of humanitarian access and depriving  the civilian population in Nagorno- Karabakh of objects indispensable  to their survival, including willfully impeding relief supply and  access for responses to conflict induced food insecurity;

to demand full compliance with obligations under the international  humanitarian law, including those related to the protection of  civilians, in particular women and children, and critical civilian  infrastructure;

to call for the immediate restoration of freedom and security of  movement of persons, vehicles and cargo, in line with the previously  reached agreements, through the Lachin corridor;

to ensure full cooperation of the parties in good faith with the  International Committee of the Red Cross and safe and unimpeded  delivery of humanitarian assistance;

to dispatch an independent inter-agency needs assessment mission in  Nagorno-Karabakh and provide humanitarian assistance to the affected  population.

These humanitarian issues clearly need to be resolved with the  international community's strong intervention before the negative  consequences result in ethnic cleansing of the people of Nagorno-  Karabakh. According to the elected representatives of  Nagorno-Karabakh, "This is a deliberately engineered crime, driven by  evident genocidal intent. The Azerbaijani authorities purposefully  instigated the blockade of the Lachin corridor, with the knowledge  that it would subject the entire population of Nagorno-Karabakh to a  gradual demise, yet chose to persist with this course of action."

At the same time, the report of International Criminal Court former  prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo reflects that it is already a genocide  that is happening in Nagorno-Karabakh. According to Mr. Ocampo, "The  blockade of the Lachin corridor by the Azerbaijani security forces  impeding access to any food, medical supplies, and other essentials  should be considered a Genocide under Article II, (c) of the Genocide  Convention: "Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life  calculated to bring about its physical destruction. Starvation is the  invisible Genocide weapon. Without immediate dramatic change, this  group of Armenians will be destroyed in a few weeks."

Distinguished Council, the prevention of such a catastrophe is a core  duty of the United Nations and this Council. I do believe that this  distinguished body, despite of geopolitical differences, has capacity  to act as genocide prevention body and not as genocide commemoration,  when it might be too late.

In conclusion, I would like to come back to the very beginning of my  intervention. One of the most important principles of the United  Nations is leaving no one behind and Edwin 4 years old, Anastasia 6  years old, Maria 7 years old, David 5 years old, Tatev 5 years old,  Samvel 8 years old and many others still have a hope that they will  not be left behind.

Thank you".