16:39, 1 June 2022
YEREVAN, JUNE 1, ARMENPRESS. Azerbaijan has not been held accountable for its crimes committed during the 2020 large-scale military attack against Artsakh and after that, which encourages the Azerbaijani government to continue conducting ethnic and racial discrimination against the Armenian population of Artsakh, promoting hate speech against them and its aggressive policy of depriving Artsakh-Armenians of their fundamental rights.
An international conference titled “Human Rights and Accountability: The Aftermath of War” was held today at the American University of Armenia, dedicated to the current post-war human rights crisis in Artsakh.
The First Annual International Conference on Human Rights was organized by the Center for Truth and Justice.
Talking about the importance of this event, the conference coordinator Emilia Mikayelyan recalled the large-scale military attack unleashed by Azerbaijan and Turkey against the people of Nagorno Karabakh on September 27, 2020, reminding about the thousands of people who were killed by them and terrorists, and the current humanitarian crisis in Artsakh caused by the war. She said the Armenians of Artsakh want to live freely, without fear that they will again be subject to violence and ethnic cleansings by the Azerbaijani government. Meanwhile, Azerbaijan, not being held accountable for its war crimes, continues promoting hatred and hate speech against Armenians and is regularly violating the 2020 November 9 trilateral agreement on the ceasefire.
“The consequence of this is that Armenians of Artsakh live in an absolute isolation and face continuous threats, encroachments and a real danger of ethnic cleansings. And during this whole period Azerbaijan has not been held accountable for any of its crimes, which encourages it to continue its aggressive policy of depriving the Armenians of Artsakh of their fundamental rights. The Center for Truth and Justice has organized this conference to gather the representatives of legal mind and to discuss very sincerely this crisis facing the Armenians of Artsakh for many years”, she said.
President of the Constitutional Court of Armenia Arman Dilanyan welcomed the conference participants and thanked the organizers for the efforts made. He also thanked all organizers and participants who arrived from the Armenian Diaspora.
“I think that the participation of internationally known lawyers, international law experts and human rights advocates from more than 15 countries is the best indicator that the topics to be discussed in coming days are relevant and have an important meaning not only for the Armenian public, but also for our international partners”, Dilanyan said.
The President of the Constitutional Court said that today lawyers witness with their own experience manifestations of xenophobia propaganda, promotion of extremist nationalist ideaology, religious intolerance and other condemnable phenomena. Therefore, he highlighted organizing this international conference dedicated to the rights of the Artsakh population and overcoming the consequences of war.
In addition to the reports of experts, the testimonies of war witnesses, collected by the CFTJ students from the persons who suffered from the war, including the displaced persons and the soldiers who returned from the Azerbaijani captivity, will be presented during the three-day conference.