March 3, 2021

The National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia states that almost four months have passed since the end of the aggression unleashed by Azerbaijan against Artsakh on September 27, 2020 with the direct support of Turkey and the involvement of terrorist groups, that took forty four days, however there are still military personnel and civilian persons, including women, in captivity in Azerbaijan, whose immediate repatriation after the termination of hostilities is an imperative demand of International Humanitarian Law.

Nevertheless, Azerbaijan, in complete disregard of its commitments under International Humanitarian Law owed towards the international community and in violation of the demands for interim measures imposed by European Court of Human Rights, conceals the real number of the Armenian prisoners of war and civilian internees under its control and unacceptabl y delays the humanitarian process of the immediate repatriation of these persons, including women – factually turning them into hostages deprived of any effective judicial remedies.

According to Article 118 of the Geneva Convention Relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War of August 12, 1949 the ''prisoners of war shall be released and repatriated without delay after the cessation of active hostilities'' Article 133, paragraph 1 of the Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War of 12 August, 1949 also stipulates that “Internment shall cease as soon as possible after the close of hostilities''.

The International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance of February 6, 2007 stipulates that no one shall be subjected to enforced disappearance, even in the wartime. Denying the fact of existence of captives or concealing the information about the fate or whereabouts of a disappeared person is considered a crime under International Law.

Paragraph 8 of the Statement of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia, the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the President of the Russian Federation of November 9, 2020 stipulates: “An exchange of prisoners of war, hostages and other detained persons and bodies of the dead takes place”. The Armenian sides have fully complied with their obligations under International Humanitarian Law, while Azerbaijan consistently refuses to repatriate all illegally kept prisoners of war, hostages and other detained persons. Moreover, by initiating the illegal process of criminal prosecution under the false pretext, Azerbaijan is trying to deprive the Armenian prisoners of war and civilians under its control of their status, defined in the Geneva Conventions, as well as does not grant them the rights, privileges, and other guarantees provided by the mentioned Conventions .

The National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia condemns the obstruction of the repatriation of the prisoners of war, hostages and other detained persons, kept in Azerbaijan, against the background of Armenophobia and the policy of systemic hatred carried out by Azerbaijan, and states that Azerbaijan’s absolutely unacceptable behavior of non-repatriating the prisoners of war violates the fundamental provisions of International Humanitarian Law, flagrantly undermines the international obligations of Azerbaijan, thus eroding the very essence of the contemporary international relations and endangering the attitude towards the international and regional human rights systems.

In view of the foregoing, the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia calls on all the international organizations, the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair countries, the international community, as well as the international and regional human rights organizations, to properly assess and strongly condemn Azerbaijan’s abovementioned behavior.