October 31, 2020
White phosphorous illuminates once fired
Based on an urgent inspection of materials provided by the fact-finding mission of the Human Rights Defender’s Office of Artsakh, authorities have confirmed that Azerbaijan has deployed and has used phosphorus projectiles, reported Armenia’s Human Rights Defender Arman Tatoyan in a Facebook post.
“Azerbaijan is using, as the current data confirms, Phsophorus munitions over Nagorno Karabakh setting fires to the forests which are next to civilian communities,” said Tatoyan in his post.
The Artsakh Human Rights Defender, Artak Beglaryan said that many civilian hide in the forests at daytime and nighttime to escape and shelter from Azerbaijani military attacks.
These munitions which have been proven to cause environmental havoc, are now being used against the civilian population of Artsakh by the Azerbaijani military, explained Beglaryan.
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“These phosphorus munitions are weapons which use one of the common allotropes of the chemical element phosphorus. White phosphorus is used in smoke, illumination and incendiary munitions, and is commonly the burning element of tracer ammunition,” Beglaryan wrote on Twitter.
White phosphorus munitions can be used on battlefields to make smoke screens, generate illumination, mark targets or burn bunkers and buildings. The use of white phosphorous against civilians is banned by the Geneva Convention.