09:55, 13 December 2023

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 13, ARMENPRESS. Armenia has been elected a member of the committee of the UNESCO 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict and its 1999 Protocol.

The election took place on December 12 during the committee’s meeting in Paris.

Armenia has been elected for a 4-year term.

The Armenian delegation to the meeting was led by Alfred Kocharyan, the Deputy Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sport.

In his remarks, Kocharyan warned that the Armenian cultural heritage in Nagorno-Karabakh is endangered and underscored that in the past three years Azerbaijan has been blocking a UNESCO mission proposed by the organization’s director general.

Kocharyan presented multiple evidence on the destruction of Armenian cultural heritage in Nagorno-Karabakh, as well as in Nakhchivan and other parts of Azerbaijan.

He cited the statement issued to Azerbaijan by the UN Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights expressing concern about the destruction and appropriation of Armenian historic and cultural, as well as religious sites, which constitutes a violation of international standards of human rights.