YEREVAN, July 13. /ARKA/. Armenia must apply to the UN to protect the rights of its citizens living in communities, which border Azerbaijan, Armenian human rights defender Arman Tatoyan said at a press conference on Tuesday.
He recalled that Armenia is a member of the UN Human Rights Council, which provides it with an exceptional opportunity to advance cross-border issues and register violations committed by Azerbaijan.
“We can also directly appeal to the Human Rights Council and other UN structures to ask them to appoint special rapporteurs, we can invite a special mission and take them to the border to fix the violations,” Tatoyan said.
He also proposed that Armenia appeal to the European Court of Human Rights to have the Azerbaijani military withdraw from the Armenian borders.
“This is not only about those who invaded the sovereign territory of Armenia on May 12 and 13, but in general, the presence of the Azerbaijani military on the borders of Armenia and nearby villages, especially in Syunik and Gegharkunik provinces, as well as along the roads,” Tatoyan said.
According to him, without the rule of law, democracy and human rights, border delimitation and demarcation processes cannot be considered legitimate. If the Armenian side raises these issues, then it will have an advantage, since these provisions were developed by European states and are considered a priority for them, he said.
“Our research shows that the presence of the Azerbaijani military is already a violation of the right of residents to life. There is a similar precedent practice, and the spread of hatred and enmity, war crimes, torture committed by Azerbaijani military a few months ago must be taken into consideration. The right to freedom and personal inviolability is also violated; there have been cases of captivity of Armenian citizens by Azerbaijani military,” Tatoyan said.
According to him, the right of the Armenian people to property is also violated, the right to movement, since the Azerbaijani soldiers stand on the roads between the Armenian communities, their flags and signs are installed there, which also affects the population.
He noted that there is also clear data on the losses incurred by citizens, in particular, citizens have cadastral certificates or land tenure agreements issued back in Soviet times, but at the moment they cannot use them. There are also violations of children’s rights, as the border regions are overly militarized, he said. -0-