In a statement published late in the afternoon on 2 October, Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Dunja Mijatović reacted to Azerbaijan’s taking control of the Nagorno-Karabakh region and the “rapidly-changing situation” that followed.
She explains that some 100,483 Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh, including families, elderly people, and other vulnerable groups, have fled their homes to seek refuge in Armenia and that “this latest ordeal” comes on top of both the consequences of armed hostilities suffered since 2020 and the serious shortages caused by the Azerbaijani blockade of the Lachin corridor, access to which was gradually restricted starting in December 2022.
The commissioner welcomes the efforts that Armenia has made to help these refugees with the support of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, but she notes, “additional assistance is required”, calling on Council of Europe member states to show solidarity.
In addition, she urges Azerbaijan—which, like Armenia, has been a member of the Council of Europe since 2001—to “guarantee the safety and the respect of the human rights of the ethnic Armenians who remain in the Karabakh region, including their rights to equal treatment and to be protected from violence, intimidation and hatred”.
Humanitarian assistance providers and international human rights missions’ access to the region must remain “free and unhindered”, reaffirmed the commissioner, who announced a forthcoming visit to Armenia to “assist in overcoming the existing human rights challenges”.
Link to the statement: https://aeur.eu/f/8uq (Original version in French by Véronique Leblanc)