Judges on the Worldwide Court docket of Justice, often known as the World Court docket, ordered Azerbaijan on Friday to let ethnic Armenians who fled Nagorno-Karabakh in September return to their houses, and to maintain the Armenians remaining within the enclave secure, as a part of a set of emergency measures.
The court docket stated that the Republic of Azerbaijan has dedicated to sure obligations as per the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. These obligations embrace guaranteeing the secure and unhindered return of people who left Nagorno-Karabakh after 19 September 2023 and want to return. Additionally they should permit people who stayed in Nagorno-Karabakh or returned to depart safely if they want to take action. Moreover, Azerbaijan should be certain that people who select to remain in Nagorno-Karabakh aren’t subjected to any pressure or intimidation that may compel them to flee.
JURIST was beforehand told by human rights skilled and member of the UK Home of Lords Baroness Cox that the lack of ethnic Armenian to go away the territory was “deeply worrying” and “might flip into a possible genocide.”
The court docket’s determination comes after 100,000 Armenians fled Nagorno-Karabakh and the ethnic-Armenian authorities of the area announced in September that it might disband, efficient instantly. That dissolution got here amid a months-long blockade that culminated in violent assaults by Azerbaijani forces. Though positioned throughout the present borders of Azerbaijan, the territory’s inhabitants was estimated to be 95% ethnically Armenian, per the CFR Global Conflict Tracker.
That is the fourth time the World Court docket has heard a request for emergency measures as a part of two competing authorized disputes between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Each states accuse one another earlier than the ICJ of violating the UN anti-discrimination treaty. The decades-long territorial dispute and conflict is rooted in 1988, when the individuals of Nagorno-Karabakh demanded secession from Azerbaijan, and sought to be folded into Armenia.
Armenia officially grew to become the 124th State Celebration to the Worldwide Legal Court docket (ICC), a separate worldwide court docket, on November 14 in a transfer that “affirmed its sovereignty, demonstrated its shared values with democratic nations, and eventually gained a viable avenue to hunt felony accountability for the heinous atrocities dedicated by Azerbaijanis on Armenian territory.”
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