UN Security Council members informed about Armenian atrocities

The UN Security Council held a virtual open debate on "Protection of facilities necessary for the survival of civilians" on the item "Protection of civilians in armed conflict" on the agenda.

Azerbaijan's Permanent Representative to the UN, Yashar Aliyev, addressed the debates, Report informs.

The Azerbaijani diplomat said that protecting civilians from direct and unprovoked attacks is one of the main goals of the international humanitarian law regime, and there are numerous prohibitions, which undermine this goal. A principle of differentiation is the basis of this regime. Aliyev noted that protective measures taken against civilians should also be applied to civilian objects.

According to him, Azerbaijan is one of the countries that suffered severely from the devastating consequences of the conflict. As a result of the full-scale war launched by Armenia against Azerbaijan in the early 1990s, a large part of the territory of Azerbaijan has been under occupation for about thirty years.

During this conflict, Armenia has repeatedly violated the bans on attacks against the civilians, causing excessive damage to civilians and civilian objects. The war claimed tens of thousands of people, and more than 700,000 Azerbaijanis were subjected to ethnic cleansing in the occupied territories. The enemy destroyed most of the occupied cities, towns, and villages. The international community has described Armenia's devastating blows to the environment as a form of environmental aggression.

The diplomat noted that since 2015, there had been repeated escalation in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan and surrounding areas. In April 2016 and July 2020, Armenia provoked large-scale military operations on the front line and the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan. In May 2016, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported damage to civilian property due to artillery fire and the use of unexploded ordnance in Azerbaijani villages near the conflict zone. Attacks by the Armenian armed forces in the border region in July 2020 posed a threat to strategically crucial international oil and gas pipelines in Azerbaijan and the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway.

Another act of aggression committed by Armenia in late September 2020 and the ensuing hostilities have caused numerous casualties among the civilian population of Azerbaijan. Civilian infrastructure was severely damaged in several major Azerbaijani cities outside the conflict zone.

The Armenian armed forces also sought to destroy Azerbaijan's energy infrastructure. The ballistic missile fired at the city of Mingachevir landed in the largest reservoir in the South Caucasus, near the Azerbaijani thermal power plant building located in the Mingachevir hydropower complex. The head of the Permanent Mission of Azerbaijan to the UN said that the Azerbaijani Armed Forces liberated about 10,000 square kilometers of Azerbaijani territory, more than 300 towns, settlements, and villages in a successful counter-offensive.

The unprecedented scale of destruction, vandalism, and looting that has taken place since the liberation of these territories is shocking. Most of these areas have become ghost towns and villages, and all civilian infrastructure has been destroyed and looted. In addition, the retreating Armenian forces and illegal settlers who left the area demolished and then burned houses, schools, and other civilian infrastructure, cut power cables and poles, destroyed gas stations, and ruined everything there as they left the occupied territories. They cut down trees and burned forests.

The destruction of civilian infrastructure and the mining of large areas in the liberated regions pose severe challenges for the safe return of IDPs to their homes. The Azerbaijani government pays special attention to the restoration and reconstruction of these areas, reestablishing housing, primary transport, and communication services. In the post-conflict period, the country takes measures to ensure peaceful construction and socio-economic recovery of the region as soon as possible. Master plans of all cities are prepared, several projects are implemented with the participation of international partners. Moreover, the issue of responsibility for serious violations of international law should be raised as an inevitable result of committed offenses of law. The fight against impunity is also an important preventive tool and a necessary precondition for lasting peace and true reconciliation.