UN Security Council’s open debate on the protection of civilians in armed conflict

14 February, 2013

On February 12, the United Nations Security Council held an open debate entitled “Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict”. The UN Secretary General, High Commissioner for Human Rights, Director for International law and Cooperation of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), as well as a large number of representatives of Member States, including Armenia’s Permanent Representative participated in the debate.

In his remarks, Ambassador Garen Nazarian noted that Armenia remains alarmed by the worsening of the humanitarian situation in Syria and condemns all attacks and terrorist acts that indiscriminately target civilians including minority groups and is also deeply concerned with the fate of the Armenians living there. He highlighted that Armenia continues to receive refugees from Syria who are full of worries about the escalation of violence in that country.

Referring to the statement of the Azerbaijani Foreign Minister, Ambassador Nazarian mentioned that Baku has a long-established record for distortion of facts and reminded of well-known interview with the then-Azerbaijani president Mutalibov, where, according to whom, the responsibility for the slaughter of the civilians of the city of Khojalu near the capital Stepanakert of Nagorno Karabagh fully falls on the Azeri opposition group.

He continued that it is completely the responsibility of Azerbaijan to thoroughly prosecute persons responsible for a killing of Azerbaijanis in Khojalu as well as for atrocities and violence against Armenians in Azerbaijani cities and towns. “Exactly, 25 years ago, as a response to a peaceful and constitutional demand of the Nagorno Karabakh people to exercise its right to self-determination, the Azerbaijani authorities organized an armed mob which launched pogroms against defenseless Armenians living in the city of Sumgait. A savage assault was launched upon the minority Armenian community living quietly at home, attacked for no reason other than their ethnic origin. Massacres in Baku, Kirovabad and other cities between 1988 and 1991 were far more barbaric and massive, leading to deportation and ethnic cleansing of over half a million Armenians,” the Permanent Representative of Armenia particularly said.

Garen Nazarian reminded the Council once again that it was Azerbaijan which started an military aggression against Nagorno Karabakh and these atrocities were followed by unprecedented Azerbaijani military offensives and operations against civilian population designed to implement a military solution to the question of Nagorno Karabakh.

Highlighting the UN Secretary General’s recent report where the latter refers to the attacks against civilian facilities and objects Nazarian stated that Armenia joins the call that the Security Council must assume a more proactive approach to preventing and responding to such incidents. He also called upon Azerbaijan for the immediate cessation of subversive activities and attacks against civilian health-care facilities, vehicles and other type of providers including threats against civilian aircrafts.

In that context, Ambassador Nazarian has again drawn the Council’s attention to the fact that on different occasions the OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs called for the parties to Nagorno Karabakh conflict to realize confidence-building measures, particularly those, which would remove the threats to the civilian population in bordering areas inculding the the removal of the snipers from the line of contact and establishment of a mechanism for investigating ceasefire violations that could save lives of many civilians and military personnel on both sides.

The Armenian Ambassador has concluded his remarks stating that Armenia remains committed to the peaceful resolution process and strongly believes that the fundamental solution of the problem must be achieved only by peaceful means based on the principles of international law.

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