Yerevan /Mediamax/. According to a report released today from an international fact-finding mission, Azerbaijani authorities carried out ethnic cleansing against Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh
The international fact-finding mission is composed of Freedom House and a coalition of six other partners - International Partnership for Human Rights (IPHR), Democracy Development Foundation (DDF), Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly–Vanadzor, Protection of Rights Without Borders, Law Development and Protection Foundation, Truth Hounds.
The report’s release comes as Baku hosts the 29th Conference of the Parties (COP29).
The report found multiple cases of gross human rights violations, breaches of international humanitarian law, and violations of international criminal law by Azerbaijani authorities against ethnic Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh, through extrajudicial killings, a monthslong blockade, forced displacement, and post-displacement policies of cultural erasure and property destruction.
The documented evidence aligns with the definition of ethnic cleansing put forward by a UN commission of experts in the context of the former Yugoslavia.
The fact-finding report also supports the conclusion that the acts documented in Nagorno-Karabakh constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The report identifies a number of steps that democratic governments can take to address impunity.
The authors of the report, in particular, urge to support international efforts to prosecute crimes against humanity and war crimes committed against the population of Nagorno-Karabakh, including by making a state referral to the International Criminal Court (ICC), implement targeted sanctions against Azerbaijani officials, military leaders, and individuals implicated in gross human rights violations and war crimes.
They also urge to uphold the rights of displaced ethnic Armenians and establish conditions for the safe and voluntary return of displaced Armenians to Nagorno-Karabakh.
The full version of the report is available here: https://freedomhouse.org/report/special-report/2024/why-are-there-no-armenians-nagorno-karabakh.
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