Thursday, February 15 2024 15:25

ArmInfo. The use of starvation as a method of warfare represents a blatant violation of the international humanitarian law, as does the denial of humanitarian assistance to populations affected by conflict and crisis.

This was stated by Ambassador Mher Margaryan, Permanent Representative of Armenia to the UN, at the UN Security Council Open Debate, entitled "The impact of climate change and food insecurity on  the maintenance of international peace and security", the Permanent Mission of Armenia to UN informs.

The full text of the Armenian diplomat's statement is presented  below.

"Madam President, 

Armenia expresses appreciation to the Presidency of Guyana for  initiating the present open debate, which provides a good opportunity  to look into the wide-ranging consequences of the climate change and  its adverse impact for human societies, in terms of peace and  security considerations.  We thank the Secretary-General and all  other briefers for their valuable contributions.

The challenges stemming from environmental issues are complex and  diverse, increasing the risks and vulnerabilities for global food  systems and posing threats to the maintenance of international peace  and security, with the use of food resources being increasingly  exploited as a tool of coercion in situations of armed conflict. The  use of starvation as a method of warfare represents a blatant  violation of the international humanitarian law, as does the denial  of humanitarian assistance to populations affected by conflict and  crisis.

In his briefing, the Secretary-General emphasized the need for all  parties to conflicts to abide by the tenets of the international  humanitarian law, yet we have seen constant violations of these and  other humanitarian principles in different corners of the world,  including in our region. Notably, we have come to observe the  utilization and misappropriation of climate change and environmental  agenda in our immediate neighborhood.

For many months, Azerbaijan manipulated disingenuous environmental  agenda to justify the imposition of a total blockade on a population  of 120,000 people in Nagorno-Karabakh, in gross violation of the  international humanitarian law. Notwithstanding the order of the  International Court of Justice issued in February and reaffirmed in  July 2023, which obliged Azerbaijan to "take all measures at its  disposal to ensure unimpeded movement of persons, vehicles and cargo  along the Lachin Corridor in both directions", Azerbaijan has failed  to implement the Court's legally binding Order, opting, instead, for  manipulative misinterpretations in order to perpetuate the conditions  of a man-made humanitarian crisis. The blockade, which was imposed on  the ethnic Armenian population since December 2022, culminated in  September last year with the use of deadly military action against  civilian population, in realization of the criminal goal of  conducting ethnic cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh. 

We have been consistently alerting the UN and this very Council that,  emboldened by the results of the use of force in the past, Azerbaijan  has been seeking to normalize violence and aggression in order to  engage in the acquisition of territories by force, to impose  unilateral solutions and to resolve international disputes through  military means. Azerbaijan's repeated transgressions, including the  armed attacks against Armenia's territory in May 2021 and September  2022, have led to significant ecological damage. Those acts of  aggression have brought about forest fires and land degradation and  included an attack against a water reservoir with potentially  devastating humanitarian and environmental consequences.

Azerbaijan continues to justify its unlawful conduct with unfounded  land mine accusations - a claim that has been twice rejected by the  International Court of Justice. Armenia has made all the possible  efforts to revisit and update the information it has in its  possession regarding the presence and distribution of landmines in  the territories, which, for many years, have been characterized by  the dynamic of shifting control lines. Despite being under no legal  obligation to do so, Armenia has recently presented a comprehensive  package of the reviewed landmines data as a gesture of good will, and  we have invited the relevant international partners to participate in  the verification of the accuracy of all the available information.

Madam President,

In December 2023, as part of an agreement and as a confidence  building measure, Armenia withdrew its bid to host COP29 and lifted  objections for the nomination of Azerbaijan. We note that hosting  this major international event on climate comes with a set of  responsibilities and requires a spirit of constructive cooperation.  Regrettably, we have come to observe further transgressions and  violence, contrary to the spirit of the agreed arrangement.

Only yesterday, on the night of 13 February, Azerbaijan conducted an  armed attack against the territory of Armenia, which resulted in  human losses. Such brazen transgressions demonstrate, time and again,  that Azerbaijan has no intention of complying with the international  law, as also evidenced by its consistent denial to comply with the  eight provisional measures issued by the International Court of  Justice in the period of 2021-2023.

It is incumbent upon the UN Security Council, which is entrusted with  the maintenance of international peace and security, to take  effective measures and to ensure that justice can be served and that  breaches of international law can be essentially prevented in the  future. Manifestly, failure to do so only serves the interests of  those who seek to undermine the viability of international law and to  challenge the integrity and credibility of the international legal  system.

The United Nations has the ultimate responsibility to uphold  compliance, ensure justice and accountability and to fight impunity,  to the pursuit of which Armenia is fully committed.  I thank you."