Baku: Armenia violated about 1m Azerbaijanis' fundamental rights

By Azernews

By Sabina Mammadli

Many fundamental rights of up to a million Azerbaijanis have been grossly violated due to  Armenia's 30-year occupation policy, Human Rights Commissioner Sabina Aliyeva has said.

She made the remarks at the OSCE Forum for Security Co-operation Security Dialogue titled “Compliance with international humanitarian law and protection of civilians” held under Azerbaijan's chairmanship via videoconference.

"Underlining that about 30 years Azerbaijan dealt with the issues related to the internally displaced persons (IDPs) as one of the global humanitarian crisis, the Ombudsman reiterated that nearly one million Azerbaijanis, who were forcibly displaced as a result of the Armenian occupation policy, were deprived of their fundamental rights, including the prohibition of torture, the right to life, property, and fair trial," ombudsman.az reported.

Opening the event, Aliyeva stressed the importance of compliance with the core principles of human rights and international humanitarian law (IHL), obligations of the states under the related treaties, the implementation of the humanitarian norms, and the role of national human rights institutions in an independent investigation into the violations of those norms. 

She also stated that a report on Armenia's attacks on remote areas of Azerbaijan that resulted in civilian deaths and injuries had been sent to international organizations.

The rights commissioner stated that the issue of internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), which is one of the world's most pressing humanitarian issues, has also been one of Azerbaijan's urgent problems for nearly 30 years.

She emphasized that IDPs were still unable to return to their home countries due to the total destruction of all residential buildings and other social facilities in liberated areas, as well as the danger posed by mines and other explosive devices.

The ombudsman also brought to the attention of the participants the numerous civilian and military deaths caused by Armenia's failure to provide complete and accurate mine maps. She also informed the participants about the people who went missing during the First Karabakh War, noting that Armenia has yet to provide information on 3,890 missing Azerbaijanis.

In conclusion of her report, the ombudsman emphasized the importance of developing cooperation in this area to prevent human rights violations by paying special attention to the role of national human rights institutions in the promotion and implementation of IHL norms.