UN fact-finding mission to assess damages to war-torn Azerbaijani regions

20 November 2020 12:27 (UTC+04:00)

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By Vafa Ismayilova

The four-day visit of the coordinated assessment mission of the UN agencies to Azerbaijan’s war-torn regions has ended.

The mission consisted of representatives of the UN Resident Coordinator's Office, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the UN Development Programme, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the World Health Organization (WHO).

The mission met the executive heads of Barda, Aghdam, and Aghjabadi regions, and also visited the houses of temporarily displaced persons and places where communities affected by the conflict live. They also visited a number of villages and settlements adjacent to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict area to assess the scale of damaged civilian houses and civilian infrastructure.

The findings of the mission are being prepared that should allow understand prevailing vulnerabilities and design appropriate humanitarian response mechanisms in different sectors to complement the government’s actions.

Earlier, President Ilham Aliyev said that international experts will be invited to Azerbaijan for the assessment of damages to the country’s war-torn regions. He also stressed that Azerbaijan will take Armenia to an international court for all material and moral damages it had inflicted.

Ninety-four Azerbaijani civilians have been killed and hundreds of others have been injured in Armenia's armed attacks.

The Azerbaijani army liberated several cities and nearly 300 of its settlements and villages as well as some strategic heights from the occupation of Armenian forces during 44 days.

About 20 per cent of Azerbaijan's territory – including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions – had been under Armenian occupation for nearly three decades.

Armenia failed to implement four UN Security Council resolutions that urged the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of the invading forces from the occupied territories.

On November 10, Baku and Yerevan signed a Russia-brokered agreement to end fighting and work towards a comprehensive solution.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev hailed the agreement as a victory for his country and a defeat for Armenia, saying Baku's military success enabled it to gain an upper hand to end the three-decade occupation of its territory.