Armenia files lawsuit with UN against Azerbaijan
Yerevan calls on the UN Court to confirm Azerbaijan’s obligations to renounce “any action directly or indirectly aimed at or leading to the displacement of remaining ethnic Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh”
On September 28, Armenia filed a lawsuit against Azerbaijan with the UN International Court of Justice over purported violations of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination with regard to the population of Nagorno-Karabakh, the court’s press release said.
“The Republic of Armenia, referring to Article 41 of the Statute and Article 73 of the Rules of Court, submitted a request to the Court yesterday for the indication of provisional measures, ‘to preserve and protect rights enshrined in the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (‘CERD’)’,” the press release indicated.
Yerevan urges the UN Court to confirm Azerbaijan’s obligations on rejecting “any actions directly or indirectly aimed at or having the effect of displacing the remaining ethnic Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh.”
It is stressed that “Azerbaijan shall refrain from taking any measures which might entail breaches of its obligations under the CERD.”
Yerevan expects that Baku “shall refrain from taking punitive actions against the current or former political representatives or military personnel of Nagorno-Karabakh.”
On September 19, tensions flared up again in Nagorno-Karabakh. Baku announced it was launching what it described as “local anti-terrorist measures” and demanded the withdrawal of Armenian troops from the region. Yerevan, in turn, said there were no Armenian forces in Karabakh, calling what was happening “an act of large-scale aggression.” The Russian Foreign Ministry has called on the parties to the conflict to stop the bloodshed, end hostilities, prevent civilian casualties, and go back to trying to settle the Karabakh issue diplomatically. On September 20, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said that an agreement was reached with the participation of the Russian peacekeeping contingent to suspend anti-terrorist measures in Karabakh. On September 21, in the Azerbaijani town of Yevlakh, a meeting was held between the representatives of Azerbaijan and Karabakh’s Armenian residents in order “to discuss the issues of reintegration.” On September 29, a third meeting on the matter was held in Yevlakh.
On September 28, President of the unrecognized Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh Samvel Shahramanyan signed a decree dissolving the republic effective January 1, 2024. The local ethnic Armenian population has been advised to consider the reintegration proposals being put forward by Baku and decide for themselves whether to remain or to relocate, most likely to nearby Armenia. According to Yerevan, over 98,000 people from Karabakh have already arrived in Armenia. Nagorno-Karabakh has a population of some 120,000 people.
