Armenia’s Permanent Representative to the UN Mher Margaryan delivered remarks at the UN Security Council high-level open debate on “Protection of objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population”.

“While in many parts of the world the Secretary-General’s call for a global ceasefire has been instrumental for reducing of tensions, in our region, the pre-planned large-scale war launched by Azerbaijan in September 2020, with the direct support of Turkey and involvement of foreign terrorist fighters, has been the biggest military escalation in times of pandemic. From the first day of the hostilities, the Azerbaijani armed forces launched deliberate and indiscriminate attacks on the civilian objects, residential buildings, and infrastructure in 170 communities of Artsakh, including the capital city Stepanakert, as well as in Martakert, Shushi, Martuni and Hadrut, causing injuries, loss of lives and displacement of thousands of people and inflicting a major humanitarian crisis,” the diplomat said.

He pointed to Azerbaijan’s use of prohibited weapons and targeted attacks on medical facilities and educational institutions, including kindergartens, in Artsakh.

“The violations of humanitarian law by Azerbaijan have been widely documented by various international humanitarian and human rights organizations, including the Human Rights Watch,” Margaryan said.

“In the aftermath of the aggression, hundreds of cluster bomblets and sub-munitions and other explosive remnants of war spread across civilian settlements and agricultural lands continue to cause serious security risk to the lives of civilians, with a long-lasting adverse effect on the humanitarian and socio-economic situation in Nagorno-Karabakh.

“Azerbaijan’s use of incendiary munitions, such as white phosphorus, which inflicted massive forest fires in Nagorno-Karabakh, causing severe physical and psychological injuries and major environmental damage, necessitates appropriate response to ensure redress and accountability measures.

“Armenia appreciates the activities of the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Humanitarian Response Centre of the peacekeeping forces of the Russian Federation, which have been critical for addressing the immediate life-saving needs of the conflict-affected population. It remains a crucial priority to ensure adequate rehabilitation of the damaged infrastructure, such as the medical facilities, water systems, power networks and communication lines and to address the issue of extensive contamination by explosive remnants of war to deliver comprehensive and long-term humanitarian response.

“Azerbaijan’s attempts to weaponize the issue of safe and unhindered humanitarian access of the UN agencies to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone are not compatible with the fundamental humanitarian principles and are explicitly aimed at undermining the international efforts to conduct comprehensive assessment of the humanitarian, protection and early recovery needs and human rights situation of the affected population,” the Armenian diplomat stated.