Ombudsman Sabina Aliyeva delivered a speech on war crimes at the TIHEK video-conference

As reported, the Commissioner for Human Rights (Ombudsman) of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Ms.Sabina Aliyeva delivered a speech at the videoconference titled “The role of human rights institutions in the prevention of human rights violations during armed conflict and in collecting the evidences of war crimes" hosted by Human Rights and Equality Institution of Turkey (TIHEK) on the occasion of December 10 - Human Rights Day. The head of the Committee on Human Rights Inquiry of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, the Turkish Ombudsman for Children’s Rights, legal scholars and human rights defenders conducting research in the field of international criminal law also attended the meeting.

During her speech, Ms.Sabina Aliyeva stressed the importance of the conference, which coincided with the Victory Parade attended by the President of Azerbaijan, the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Mr.Ilham Aliyev and Turkish President Mr.Recep Tayyip Erdogan, saying that the discussed topic is very sensitive for Azerbaijan. She thanked the brotherly Turkish people for their moral support in the cause of justice.

Furthermore, she briefed about the Armenian armed forces attacks on Azerbaijani civilian settlements with use of heavy artillery and prohibited weapons, since September 27, 2020, which caused numerous casualties among the civilian population and destruction of social, cultural, historical, and religious buildings.

Ms. Aliyeva highlighted that as a result of war crimes, targeting children, women and the elderly living in densely populated areas far from the front line by the Armenian armed forces, 100 civilians have been killed and 416 injured, being targeted by prohibited weapons. She also said several fact-finding missions in the conflict-affected areas have been conducted and that facts-based reports, proving gross violations of international law, have been prepared and sent to international organizations and those institutions have been called on to establish legal liability measures for Armenia.

The Ombudsman spoke about the Armenian ethnic cleansing policy against the Azerbaijanis resulted in human rights violations and stressed that thirty-year occupation has created not only material but also social, psychological, as well as ecological problems. It was also noted the settlement of the Armenians from Syria, Lebanon and other countries in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan contradicts international law and there is enough evidence in this regard.

During her speech, Ms. Aliyeva also said that the mistreatment of the Azerbaijani prisoners of war held in Armenia is contrary to the principles of the Geneva Conventions, but added that negotiations demanding to end such treatment are underway. She also stressed that unlike Armenia, Azerbaijan treats the POWs humanely, and gave information about her activity related to this issue as the Ombudsman.

The conference was continued with live discussions, and Azerbaijani Ombudsman Sabina Aliyeva answered questions addressed to her.

In the end, it was decided to establish a Joint Commission of Inquiry with the Azerbaijani Ombudsman Institute to investigate human rights violations and war crimes in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan.