CHINARI, Armenia—The delegation of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Armenia says it regrets that it has had to suspend its work in support of civilians harvesting fields in Chinari village, Tavush Region, as a result of shooting from Azerbaijani units from across the border that occurred on 26 July. In accordance with its mandate to assist civilians adversely affected by armed conflict, the ICRC had agreed to a request made by Chinari villagers to be present as harvesters worked in fields situated at the international border between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
“No one was injured at the time of the shooting, but an ICRC vehicle sustained minor damage,” the ICRC said in a statement. Prior to the incident, villagers had been able to harvest four hectares in safety with the ICRC being present.
“The ICRC’s policy is to maintain a confidential dialogue with the relevant authorities in order to address security concerns. The ICRC therefore does not comment publicly on the specific circumstances of incidents of this kind, or on who may have initiated the shooting,” the ICRC said. “Through this policy, the ICRC is able to engage with the authorities in a manner that helps ensure that it can continue its work on behalf of people suffering the effects of armed conflict.”
The ICRC maintains its commitment to work on behalf of civilians living close to the international border and will continue to carry out other assistance activities in the border area.
So let’s get this straight, the Azeris shoot at the Red Cross and as a response the Red Cross will stop it’s support of the Armenian villagers in the area? How is this an appropriate response?!
The Red Cross should actually stop it’s support of any Azeri initiative it may have as a consequence for being shot at by the Azeris. This response is yet again another corrupt Western organization’s attempts to overlook gross violations on behalf of the Azeris.
of course none of this is going to be noticed by the OSCE minsk group.
So this now encourages Azeris to do more of this to disrupt assistance to Armenia…..
I wonder what the ICRC and the international press would comment if the aggressors happened to be Palestinians while the ICRC was on Israeli soil…
Bravo Azeris. kill innocent people and OSCE and Red Cross will close their eyes. So much about Western help and objectivity. Remember the iron ladle story of Kherimian Hairig