A truck carrying humanitarian aid from France reaches Syunik on Aug. 9

Through an initiative by the Coordinating Council of Armenian Organizations in France, the city of Paris, as well as other municipalities in France have donated humanitarian assistance for the people of Artsakh, which arrived in Armenia’s Syunik Province on Wednesday.

Vardan Sargsyan, head of the Armenian government’s emergency task for Artsakh assistance, told reporters that this gesture by France will go a long way of focusing international attention of the humanitarian crisis in Artsakh, resulting from Azerbaijan’s eight-month blockade of the Lachin Corridor.heaa member of the Armenian government working group tasked with responding to th

“I think the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh is so critical and the need for humanitarian aid is so vital that it has also become evident to our international partners. Effective steps by the international community can certainly contribute eventually lifting the blockade of Lachin Corridor, and giving access for humanitarian goods to the people of Nagorno-Karabakh,” Sargsyan said.

In addition to Paris, the cities of Île-de-France, Auvergne , Rhône-Alpes , Hauts-de-France, Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, Pays de la Loire and Grand Est have also taken part in providing assistance totaling 20 tons of food.

It has been more than two weeks that convoy of 19 trucks carrying humanitarian assistance from Armenia to Artsakh has been stuck at the entrance of the Hakari Bridge, with Azerbaijani border guards not allowing the Russian peacekeepers to successfully direct the aid to Artsakh.

On Tuesday, a report authored by the former prosecutor general of the International Criminal Court in clear terms said that deliberate starvation of a population constitutes genocide and accused President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan and his administration of committing genocide.