OSCE PA confirms displaced Azerbaijanis' right to return their lands

/By AzerNews/

By Sara Rajabova

The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly has reaffirmed the right of displaced Azerbaijanis to return to occupied territories of the country.

The OSCE PA has adopted the 2015 Helsinki Declaration, containing the Assembly’s wide-ranging policy recommendations and pronouncements for the OSCE and its 57 participating states in the fields of political affairs and security, economics, the environment and human rights, according to the message posted on the OSCE website on July 9.

The declaration reaffirmed the inalienable right of the populations of Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine displaced as a result of conflicts to return to their homes in safety and with dignity, and stresses the necessity of creating appropriate conditions for their soonest return.

Earlier, the OSCE PA adopted a resolution on Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity, sovereignty, and the inviolability of its borders at its summer session.

The author of the resolution on “Adherence to the Helsinki principles in inter-state relations across the OSCE area” was Azay Guliyev, the Azerbaijani MP and Deputy Chairman of the Committee on Political Affairs and Security of the OSCE PA.

The document expressed deep concern over the conflicts in Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine and emphasizes the importance of resolving conflicts based on the principle of territorial integrity, sovereignty, and inviolability of state borders.

The Helsinki declaration is the final product of the Assembly’s 2015 annual session, which was held this week in the Finnish capital to commemorate the fortieth anniversary of the OSCE’s founding document, the Helsinki Final Act. The annual session took place in historic Finlandia Hall, the site of the signing of the Act in 1975.

The document also reaffirmed the principles of inviolability of frontiers and territorial integrity of states, and recalled in that regard the established principle of international law on the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by force. It also reaffirmed that every state has the duty to refrain in its international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations.

The declaration also underlined the role of the rule of law in preventing conflict, mitigating the effects of the conflict once it has arisen, and in resolving conflicts, reaffirmed its strong opposition to impunity for serious violations of international humanitarian law and human rights law. The document emphasized the responsibility of states to comply with their relevant obligations to end impunity and to thoroughly investigate and prosecute persons responsible for war crimes, genocide, crimes against humanity or other serious violations of international humanitarian law, in order to prevent violations, avoid their recurrence and seek sustainable peace, justice, truth and reconciliation.

The final declaration urged all parties involved to engage in good faith in the search for negotiated solutions in order to achieve a comprehensive and lasting political settlement of the conflicts, including those affecting Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine, based on the norms and principles of international law, in particular those relating to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the states concerned, and to make full use of the available conflict settlement mechanisms and formats to that effect.