A conference focusing on human rights violations and the 2020 Artsakh War was held at the European Parliament on Wednesday.
The conference, entitled “Human Rights & the Nagorno-Karabakh/Artsakh War 2020,” was co-organized by the European Armenian Federation for Justice and Democracy and was hosted by a member of the European Parliament from Netherlands, Peter van Dalen.
The keynote speakers were the Human rights defender of the Nagorno-Karabakh/Artsakh Republic – Gegham Stepanyan and Siranush Sahakyan, the legal representative of the Armenian prisoners of war before the European Court of Human.
The conference was widely attended by Members of the European Parliament from various political groups, European Parliament advisers, politicians, diplomats, and representatives of civil society.
“I stand with the Armenian people. The life of the Armenian inhabitants of Nagorno-Karabakh/Artsakh, and their cultural heritage is under threat. We should not accept a status quo but ensure the Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh have a future in their historic region,” said van Dalen, the host, reiterating his commitment to the issue.
In his opening remarks, the EAFJD President Kaspar Karampetian welcomed the participants and thanked van Dalen for hosting the conference.
“The second Artsakh war in 2020 launched by Azerbaijan was another attempt to carry out an ethnic cleansing of the native Armenian population of Artsakh/Nagorno Karabakh. The native Armenian people’s right to live freely and independently in their homeland is a fundamental human right. The European Parliament condemned the state-level policy of Armenophobia by Azerbaijan by an urgent resolution, which is another acknowledgement that the native Armenian people cannot live under Azerbaijani rule,” added Karampetian.
The keynote speakers addressed the gross violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law by Azerbaijan during the Nagorno Karabakh/Artsakh war in 2020 and in its aftermath.
“Azerbaijan’s policy of ethnic cleansing, threats, use of force, psychological attacks are aimed aimed at disrupting normal life and cause uncertainty about the future among the Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh/Artsakh. This uncertainty is aggravated especially due to the fact that the status of Nagorno-Karabakh is not clearly addressed in current negotiations, including through the mediation by the European Union,” said Sahakyan, the Artsakh Human Rights Defender.
“Anti-Armenian xenophobia has become a defining feature of Azerbaijan, which manifests itself in forms of hate speech, maltreatment of prisoners of Armenian descent, glorification of ethnic violence against Armenians, ethnic cleansing, denial of history,’’ said Sahakyan, Armenia’s legal representative, after After providing an overview of the issue from the legal perspective, including the relevant judgements of international courts against Azerbaijan.