Azerbaijani ombudsman responds to allegations reflected in Human Rights Watch 2022 report

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Baku, January 15, AZERTAC

Azerbaijani Commissioner for Human Rights (Ombudsman) Sabina Aliyeva responded to the allegations reflected in Human Rights Watch’s 2022 report.

“Above all, it should be noted that reports and statements prepared by international non-governmental organizations should be impartial, fair and free from double standards. But unfortunately, as always, Human Rights Watch (HRW) continues its biased approach towards Azerbaijan by sharing baseless and biased information on social media and reflecting this baseless information in its annual reports.

In its report for 2022, HRW lists the resolved conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan as unresolved, which shows HRW’s true approach to this issue. In its report, HRW also disrespects the internationally recognized territorial integrity of Azerbaijan by ignoring generally recognized principles of international law. Whereas, if HRW could make an effort and make an objective investigation, then it would see the rapid restoration and construction activities after the liberation of the internationally recognized territories of Azerbaijan from the occupation of Armenia.

We would like to point out in particular that since the trilateral declaration of the leaders of Azerbaijan, the Russian Federation and Armenia on November 10, 2020, there have been no cases on the Azerbaijani side that could threaten the life of any person of Armenian nationality living in the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan.

20 percent of the internationally recognized territory of Azerbaijan had been under the occupation of Armenia for almost 30 years and nearly one million people became internally displaced because of this occupation. About 4,000 people of Azerbaijani nationality have disappeared since the first Karabakh war and Armenia refuses to provide any information on their fate to their families. Why has HRW taken no initiative to bring this gross violation of human rights to the attention of the global community for the restoration of this violation?

After the liberation of the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, it was discovered that hundreds of thousands of landmines had been planted in these regions by Armenia, threatening the lives of civilians. In the report, HRW only refers to the Azerbaijani Attorney General’s statement dated October 2022 saying that “since the 2020 ceasefire, until mid-October 2022, 34 civilians were killed and Another 80 were injured due to landmines in “Nagorno-Karabakh” and surrounding neighborhoods.” It should be noted that unfortunately the number of civilians who lost their lives or were injured due to landmine explosions increased increased since last October. Since the end of the Second Karabakh War, 274 people have been affected by landmines and 46 people have been killed including 36 civilians. It is strange that HRW never mentions the leaders of the Armenia who were directly involved in laying these landmines during the occupation of these territories and refuse to provide an accurate map of unmarked landmines.

Numerous reports on violations of norms and principles of international law as well as international humanitarian law during the war and post-war periods have been prepared and sent to the relevant international human rights organizations. In her ad hoc report on the problem of landmines, the Ombudsman provided detailed information on the threat of landmines and underlined the need for a rapid resolution of this problem which undermines the peacebuilding process in the region. . This report was also sent to all relevant international human rights institutions and international non-governmental organizations, including HRW.

In light of the above, HRW’s approach to the issue of landmines gives the impression that the continued civilian casualties from these landmines are not a serious problem for this organization.

Regarding the videos showing the alleged execution of Armenian servicemen, it should be noted that the Azerbaijani authorities have opened the necessary investigations into these documents. It should be noted that there are suspicions about the reliability of these videos. However, there are many videos, which demonstrate the torture and ill-treatment committed against Azerbaijani servicemen by Armenian servicemen, and some of them have been posted on social networks. But we have never witnessed any cases of investigation of the facts demonstrated in these videos by the Armenian authorities and reaction of HRW in this regard.

We would expect an impartial approach from HRW to the investigation of POW cases. Unfortunately, we have not witnessed any serious approach to the issue of Azerbaijani prisoners of war who were tortured and mistreated by Armenian military forces.

Regarding POWs, it should be noted that according to the statement of state authorities, all Armenian POWs were already sent home immediately after the end of the Second Karabakh War.

We must inform you that the Azerbaijani Ombudsman, within the framework of her MNP mandate, together with her MNP group carry out regular visits, without any discrimination, to places that people cannot leave of their own free will, including those where detainees of Armenian nationality are held. During these visits, they were observed to receive medical treatment, an interpreter and video call contact with their loved ones.

In this regard, we advise HRW to consider and use the ad hoc reports of the Ombudsman of Azerbaijan regarding her visits to monitor the human rights situation of detainees of Armenian nationality when preparing her reports. .

Azerbaijan’s mediator has repeatedly issued statements condemning Armenia-backed provocations against Azerbaijan in the post-war period that threaten peace in the region. Unfortunately, HRW takes no steps to investigate the human rights abuses reflected in these statements and, instead, continues to issue biased reports.

We call on HRW to be fair, impartial and to steer clear of double standards and to avoid any biased approaches or statements that could jeopardize efforts for lasting peace and delay the restoration of normal life in the region,” he said. said Sabina Aliyeva.

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