Statement delivered by by the Delegation of Armenia at the 1161th Meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council under current issue On non-compliance of Azerbaijan with the international law

19 October, 2017

Statement delivered by by the Delegation of Armenia at the 1161th Meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council under current issue On non-compliance of Azerbaijan with the international law and OSCE commitments related to the economic and social rights of people of Artsakh

Mr. Chairman,

Recently, we have witnessed continued attempts of Azerbaijan to isolate people of Nagorno-Karabakh from international community, including communication, global economic market and international cultural exchanges.

This policy is in breach with international law and OSCE commitments.

The international instruments such as the UN Covenant on Political and Civil Rights and the UN Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights empower people to pursue their economic, social and cultural development by the virtue of the right to self-determination. The UN Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights by its Article 1.2 establishes that “All peoples may, for their own ends, freely dispose of their natural wealth and resources without prejudice to any obligations arising out of international economic co-operation, based upon the principle of mutual benefit, and international law. In no case may a people be deprived of its own means of subsistence”.

1989 OSCE Vienna document further builds on this principle and confirms that all peoples always have the right, in full freedom, to determine, when and as they wish, their internal and external political status, without external interference, and to pursue as they wish their political, economic, social and cultural development.

It is well known that Azerbaijan used variety of means including indiscriminate military actions to suppress the basic human rights of people of Artsakh including right to life, right to self-determination freedom of movement, right to development, and other political, civil, economic, social and cultural rights.

The ill practice of criminalizing visits to Nagorno-Karabakh by bloggers and journalist and hindering access of international community to NK shows to what extent Azerbaijan is interested in transparency and accountability in the conflict area.

We regret that Azerbaijan is misusing OSCE platform of cooperation in campaigning against inalienable rights of people of Artsakh by putting forward irrelevant accusations against participating states and their private entities.

We take note that these ill-advised efforts of Azerbaijan are made in the context of growing criticism of international community including OSCE participating states on further deterioration of already poor human rights record of Azerbaijan. Credible reports on wide spread international corruption network which involved number of international public figures and politicians who were allegedly bribed by certain Azerbaijani entities to cover up human rights violations of Azerbaijan is another important element of this context.

We call on Azerbaijan to uphold human rights and other OSCE commitments under its jurisdiction and refrain from futile attempts to isolate Nagorno-Karabakh from international community.

Thank you.

MFA RA
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