UN High Commissioner criticizes Armenian government
By Rashid Shirinov
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein voiced his regret that the staff of his Office do not have access to Nagorno-Karabakh, the message of September 14 on the organization’s website states.
The Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan for over two decades is being occupied by Armenia.
While speaking about the situation of human rights in individual countries in his speech at the 33rd session of the UN Council, the high Commissioner said that the employees of his Office and special commissions of the Council on human rights do not have access to many areas of the world where reports of egregious human rights violations come from.
“Governments have the responsibility to uphold their human rights obligations and to respect the standards. But the human rights of all people, in all countries, also require our collective attention,” said Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein. He also added that the Vienna Declaration, adopted in 1993, confirms that: “the promotion and protection of all human rights is a legitimate concern of the international community”.
Armenia broke out a lengthy war against Azerbaijan laying territorial claims on its South Caucasus neighbor. Since a war in the early 1990s, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and over 1 million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities.
Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding districts.
---
Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov
Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz