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On December 14, the Chair of the RA NA Standing Committee on Protection of Human Rights and Public Affairs Taguhi Tovmasyan sent urgent statements to the relevant bodies of the UN, CoE and OSCE, noting:

“It is already more than 3 days Azerbaijan has blocked the only vital highway connecting Artsakh to Armenia. With urgent letters I have again alarmed UN, CoE, OSCE relevant bodies that as a consequence of such criminal behavior, that is the blockade of Artsakh by Azerbaijan:

- The life of a number of patients of “Stepanakert Medical Center” is under danger: They need urgent medical care in Yerevan, which is not possible because of the blockade of Artsakh by Azerbaijan;

- The supply of food and medicines has also become impossible,

- A number of Armenian women, children and elderly have had to spend these days outside in the conditions of cold winter, which is really unacceptable;

- Hundreds of employees who have gone to work are now deprived of their right to free movement and can’t return home...”

The Committee Chair has drawn the attention of my international colleagues on the fact that Azerbaijan has suspended the gas supply to the Artsakh Republic in the conditions of cold winter which is a humanitarian and economic terrorism, consistently being carried out by Azerbaijan against the civilian population of Artsakh.

She has also stressed the necessity for urgent steps by the international institutions towards the unblocking of Artsakh, in order that more than 120.000 people of Artsakh being blocked as a consequence of Azerbaijan’s such inhuman behavior, are able to exercise their universal rights.

The situation around Artsakh is really critical. Urgent steps are needed to protect the right to life of the people of Artsakh,” Taguhi Tovmasyan noted.