The Office of the Representative on International Legal Matters welcomes the judgments of 12 November 2024 of the International Court of Justice, which have completely rejected all preliminary objections raised by Azerbaijan in the case concerning the Application of the Convention of the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (Armenia v. Azerbaijan) and upheld Armenia’s objections in the case of Azerbaijan v. Armenia.
The Court confirmed that the preconditions under Article 22 of the Convention were met. Specifically, it found that Armenia had engaged in genuine negotiations on the interpretation and application of the Convention and that these negotiations had become futile by the date of Armenia’s Application on 16 September 2021.
Furthermore, the Court dismissed Azerbaijan’s objections regarding jurisdiction ratione materiae. It held that Armenia’s claims fully fall within the scope of the Convention, including the claims with respect to the committed acts of murder, torture, and inhuman treatment against ethnic Armenians, as well as claims of arbitrary detention and enforced disappearances of ethnic Armenians.
In the Azerbaijan v. Armenia case, the Court upheld Armenia’s preliminary objections regarding jurisdiction ratione temporis and ratione materiae. As a result, Azerbaijan’s claims related to alleged acts before 15 September 1996, i.e. during and in the immediate aftermath of the First Nagorno-Karabakh War, as well as claims of alleged environmental harm, have been dismissed in their entirety. The Court has also addressed Armenia’s preliminary objection ratione materiae concerning Azerbaijan’s allegations of landmines and booby traps. The Court found that as Azerbaijan did not request the Court to determine that the laying of landmines in itself constitutes a violation of the obligations under the Convention, Armenia’s preliminary objection on this matter is without object. Armenia will defeat those contentions at the merits stage.
