Azerbaijan has been accused of preparing genocide against Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh, according to a report by the former chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Luis Moreno Ocampo.
The report highlights that the blockade of the Lachin Corridor, the only route connecting Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia, has severely hindered the supply of food, medicine, and essential goods to the region’s population of approximately 120,000.
Ocampo’s report states, “There is a reasonable basis to believe that a genocide is being committed,” noting that a UN convention defines genocide as including “deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction”. The report also warns, “Starvation is the invisible genocide weapon. Without immediate dramatic change, this group of Armenians will be destroyed in a few weeks.”
A group of UN experts has called on Azerbaijan to lift the blockade in the Lachin Corridor and end the humanitarian crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh. The experts, including the Special Rapporteurs on the Right to Food and the Right to Education, the Independent Expert on the Enjoyment of All Human Rights by Older Persons; and the Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, emphasised the urgent need for free and safe movement of people, vehicles and goods in the Lachin Corridor, in accordance with the November 2020 ceasefire agreement. They also stressed the importance of respecting and protecting human rights, including the rights to food, health, education and life, and called for cooperation and dialogue among all parties to find a peaceful and sustainable solution to the Nagorno-Karabağ conflict.
Azerbaijan’s blockade of the Lachin Corridor has created a severe humanitarian crisis, leading to serious shortages of essential items, particularly affecting children, disabled individuals, the elderly, pregnant women, and invalids. Medical stocks are rapidly depleting, and hospitals are struggling to operate ambulances due to reduced fuel supply.
A government representative in Azerbaijan dismissed the report from Ocampo, the first prosecutor of the ICC, saying it “contains unsubstantiated allegations and accusations”. Hikmet Hajiyev, an assistant to Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev, told The Associated Press, “It is biased and distorts the real situation on the ground and represents serious factual, legal and substantive errors”.
Meanwhile, approximately 360 tonnes of medicine and food loaded on 19 lorries have been waiting for more than two weeks to cross the Azerbaijan border.
Vardan Sargsyan, a representative of a crisis management working group for Nagorno-Karabakh set up by the Armenian government, told the Associated Press, “Unfortunately, there have been many attempts from the Azerbaijani side to manipulate this situation. We just hope that this humanitarian initiative will be accepted as humanitarian and that it will be possible to transfer the goods.”
