During the third session of the UK Parliamentary Inquiry on Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh), the Armenian National Committee of the UK (ANC-UK) delivered its formal witness submission to the panel.
The report set out the legal and historical foundations of the Inquiry, detailing the protections afforded to cultural heritage under the 1907 and 1954 Hague Conventions, the Geneva Conventions, the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and UN Security Council Resolution 2347. It further examined the relevance of the Genocide Convention and international jurisprudence recognising that the intentional destruction of cultural heritage can serve as evidence of genocidal intent.
ANC UK presented its witness statement based on pattern of ethic cleansing in different stages.
Andre Vartanian, member of ANC-UK, presented the report, and together with Annette Moskofian, Chair of ANC-UK, responded to questions from the panel, calling for:
1. Pledge greater aid to the forcibly displaced population of Nagorno-Karabakh;
2. Acknowledge that Azerbaijan’s military offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh, viewed through the lens of the blockade and violations of humanitarian law, constituted ethnic cleansing;
3. Apply targeted sanctions against members of the Azerbaijani regime responsible for the ethnic cleansing.
4. Publicly support the right of return of the population of Nagorno-Karabakh to their homeland pursuant to the terms of the ICJ interim measure, Article 13 of the Universal Declaration of Human Right 1948, Article 12 of The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and United Nations General Assembly Resolution 194 (III);
5. Publicly support the facilitation of that return with the instalment of multinational or UN peacekeeping force to ensure atrocities can not be committed against the Armenian people again, along with self-governing rights bestowed to the local population;
6. More vigorously lobby for the protection of the cultural and religious heritage of Armenians by international organisations such as UNESCO;
7. Curtail Azerbaijan from further claims on the sovereign territory of Armenia and insist on their withdrawal from Armenian territory occupied from 2020 to present.
Armenian National Committee of the United Kingdom – ANC UK
