ArmInfo. A group of Artsakh residents met with the UN Resident Coordinator in Armenia, Francoise Jacob, and presented their demands.
On July 9, a group of Artsakh residents held a protest in front of the UN office in Yerevan with a demand to put pressure on Azerbaijan in order to preserve historical, cultural, spiritual monuments and private property in Artsakh.
4 participants of the last action took part in the meeting with the representative of the World Organization. The meeting took place at the UN office and lasted an hour and a half in the Chatham House format.
According to a message received by ArmInfo, the protesters voiced a number of issues that cause them concern. In particular, attention was drawn to the fact that the issue of Artsakh has been moved from the political and legal to the humanitarian plane; the rights of the residents of Artsakh are not protected. It was noted that the government of Armenia does not represent or protect the interests of the people of Artsakh. Citizens of Artsakh, who have temporarily lost their homeland, their homes, property, cemeteries and heritage in Artsakh, being outside their homeland, are also deprived of their rights: to self-determination, residence in the historical territory, property rights. In this regard, they asked: does the UN consider the Artsakh issue closed under these conditions; if so, does the UN consider military aggression, genocide, blockade, ethnic cleansing an acceptable method of resolving the conflict; and if not, does the organization have a vision to solve the problem? The meeting participants also asked how the UN could force Azerbaijan to comply with the decisions of the Hague Court? Let us recall that the first decision of December 7, 2021 on the application of urgent measures was based on a claim filed by Armenia in the framework of the case "Armenia v. Azerbaijan", which is considered in the context of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. It obliges Azerbaijan, among other things, to take all necessary measures to prevent and punish acts of vandalism and desecration of Armenian cultural heritage, including churches and other places of worship, monuments, landmarks, cemeteries and artifacts. And the second is the decision of November 17, 2023, by which the Court obliged Azerbaijan to ensure the unimpeded and safe entry or exit of persons who left Nagorno-Karabakh as a result of events that occurred after September 19, 2023. The International Court also ordered Azerbaijan to preserve and not destroy documents confirming the rights and property of residents of Nagorno-Karabakh.
"We ask the UN to put pressure on Azerbaijan so that it preserves our private property and spiritual and cultural heritage until our return," the Artsakh people said in a message following the meeting.
"Examples of the destruction of Armenian historical, cultural, spiritual heritage, as well as private property and entire settlements, were presented in detail through photographs and other materials, which is a violation of the 2003 UNESCO Declaration on the Deliberate Destruction of Cultural Heritage and Article 27 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The right of return of Artsakh citizens is presented on conditions that the Artsakh people themselves consider reasonable and within the framework of international law. These conditions are set out in a letter of appeal addressed to international structures, which was signed by 215 non-governmental organizations and political forces of Artsakh.
The still unresolved issue of Armenian prisoners in Baku was raised. It was stated that the decision to hold the UN climate conference (COP19) in Baku was wrong and it was noted that the visit of UN representatives to Baku could be justified if they took the opportunity to visit Artsakh and answer the question: "why are there no Armenians in Artsakh?" All the issues discussed were registered by Francoise Jacob, who, in turn, promised to present them to the relevant bodies of the organization," the Artsakh people said in a statement following the meeting.
