Azerbaijani civil society reps send open letter to ICRC
Azerbaijani civil society representatives have sent an open letter to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Azernews reports.
"We are addressing ICRC President Mirjana Spoljaric Egger to express our serious concern about the organization's activities in Azerbaijan," the letter stated.
"ICRC has been operating in Azerbaijan for over 30 years. We consider the mandate and mission of this organization to be very important. However, to our regret, the ICRC hasn't achieved significant progress in clarifying the fate of around 4,000 Azerbaijanis who went missing during Armenia's aggression against Azerbaijan. Many families still hold hope of receiving information about their missing relatives," the letter noted.
"In the 1990s, the ICRC obtained information about 54 Azerbaijani prisoners of war. Through dialogue with the Armenian side, the bodies of 17 of them were recovered and handed over to Azerbaijan. However, the fate of the remaining 37 people remains unknown," the letter said. "Are they alive or were they killed, and if they were killed, why were their bodies weren't returned to their families? Why the ICRC isn't actively involved in this issue despite available correspondence between the Azerbaijan and the ICRC?"
"Despite considering itself an independent, neutral, and impartial organization, the ICRC's actions concerning Azerbaijan raise concerns about the violation of these fundamental principles.
"In the 2000s, the ICRC established an office in Khankendi without consent from the Azerbaijani government, and signed an 'agreement' about this with the separatist regime. This 'agreement' was veiled in confidentiality and not disclosed, despite repeated official requests from Azerbaijan. Subsequently, it was revealed that the ICRC office in Khankendi was subordinate to the office in Yerevan instead of Baku," the letter pointed out.
"Representatives of Azerbaijan's civil society view such behavior by the ICRC as biased, given that the organization should always maintain independence and neutrality," the letter said.
“It is unacceptable that this situation does not change even after the 44-day second Karabakh war in 2020. We consider the subordination of the Khankendi office to the representative office in Baku to be a completely a justified and legitimate demand, as President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev said in an interview with Euronews TV channel in Shusha,” the letter added.
“We also support the opinion expressed in the open letter of the victims of the Meshali genocide to the international community regarding Vagif Khachatryan, one of the war criminals who committed the Meshali genocide in 1991, who was found in the car of the ICRC at the Lachin border checkpoint,” the representatives noted.
“We share the opinion of the residents of Meshali that the flag and cars of the ICRC should not be a haven for war criminals, this cannot give them any immunity or legal immunity. International humanitarian law is also against this,” said in the letter.
The text of the letter is as follows:
“Madam President! We are horrified that contraband gasoline, cigarettes and mobile phone boxes were found in trucks and ambulances under the emblem of the ICRC during the inspection at the Lachin border checkpoint. We also call on the ICRC not to make unfair statements. Since Karabakh is the territory of Azerbaijan, your representative office in Baku can deliver humanitarian supplies along the Aghdam-Khankendi road. The road from Aghdam to Khankendi is shorter than from Yerevan. This can also allow you to significantly save on transportation costs.
We expect that the International Committee of the Red Cross will fully subordinate the Khankendi office to the Baku representation. The ICRC should conduct its activities in accordance with the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Azerbaijani state. We also expect you to strengthen the dialogue with the Armenian side on the issue of missing persons. We believe that the International Committee of the Red Cross will take into account our public concerns as soon as possible, put these issues on the agenda at its headquarters in Geneva, make constructive decisions and make the necessary adjustments to its activities related to Azerbaijan."
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