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Qabil Ashirov

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On October 11, 2023 at the traditional OSCE "Human Dimension" conference in Warsaw, organized by the Permanent Representation of Azerbaijan to the OSCE, an event was held on the impact of mine aggression on human rights.

Moderator of the event, Elshad Iskandarov, ambassador on special assignments of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry, pointed out that as a result of the nearly 30-year occupation, one-tenth of the territory of Azerbaijan was deliberately contaminated with mines by Armenia, and more than 1.5 million mines were planted in these areas. Noting that Armenia planted new mines in the territories of Azerbaijan even after the end of the 44-day war, the speaker evaluated this as an indicator of hypocrisy in the peace rhetoric of official Yerevan. Emphasizing that more than 300 Azerbaijanis have become victims of mine terrorism in the last 2 years as a result of this illegal activity of Armenia, E. Iskandarov noted that only as a result of a limited-scale anti-terror operation, full conditions have been created to end mine terrorism in Garabagh.

Antonio Stango, president of the Italian Human Rights Federation, who presented the report of the preliminary study on the topic "Devastating effect of landmines on human rights" at the event, stated that the contamination of Garabagh with mines is a humanitarian tragedy, and as a result, Azerbaijan is the second most landmine-contaminated country in Europe. As part of the analysis of the report, it was stated that international justice and humanitarian law, as well as basic human rights, were grossly violated as a result of the 30-year mine terrorism carried out by Armenia. Noting the massive violation of their right to health, work, and education, which prevented more than 700 thousand former IDPs from returning to their homeland, A.Stango stressed the importance of launching the international human rights mechanism and ensuring the payment of compensation to Azerbaijani citizens affected by mines.

Ramil Azizov, Deputy head of ANAMA's Operations Department, speaking at the event, gave detailed information about the demining operations carried out in Garabagh after the occupation, and reported that about 30,000 anti-personnel and more than 17,000 anti-tank mines have been detected and neutralized in an area of 2,636 hectares. He emphasized that Azerbaijan is implementing it at the expense of its own internal capabilities.

In his speech, Denis Sammut, the executive director of the LINKS European Foundation, who founded the "Mine-free South Caucasus" regional campaign in 2018, said that regional cooperation in the field of demining creates a historic opportunity for the creation of mutual trust. He called on the European Union to provide practical support to the region, especially to Azerbaijan, in large-scale demining work, noting that this will serve international partners to ensure sustainable peace in the region.

The participants of the event, with the participation of a wider group of experts, took the initiative to prepare a report and submit it to the UN, which will contain specific proposals for the launch of an international mechanism to restore the rights of landmine victims as a result of the past Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict.

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