A woman waits to be evacuated from Nagorno Karabakh in September 2023. credit: csi/Siranush Sargsyan

ZURICH, SWITZERLAND, March 21, 2024 /EINPresswire.com/ — Christian Solidarity International (CSI), a Christian human rights organization, has underscored the “absolute right” of the Armenians of Nagorno Karabakh to return to their homeland, six months after they were driven out by the armed forces of Azerbaijan.

CSI supports a joint declaration by a group of political parties from Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh) and Armenia that urges Armenia to advocate for the Artsakh people’s right to return to their homeland under international protection and guarantees.

The declaration issued on March 14 references the Artsakh people’s inviolable right to live freely in their ancestral lands. It warns that there can be no peace in the region when a segment of the Armenian people is forcefully uprooted from its homeland.

In an oral statement to the UN Human Rights Council 55th Session in Geneva on March 21, CSI’s Joel Veldkamp recalled that the International Court of Justice had ruled on November 17 last year that Azerbaijan must “ensure” that the Armenians are able to return to Nagorno Karabakh in a “safe, unimpeded and expeditious manner.”

Veldkamp noted that the exiled National Assembly of the Republic of Nagorno Karabakh has appointed a Committee for the Defense of the Fundamental Rights of the Artsakh People, led by former Armenian foreign minister Vartan Oskanian, to secure the right of return for Karabakh Armenians.

“We urge Armenia and Azerbaijan to work with this Committee to negotiate a framework that will allow the residents of Nagorno Karabakh to return to their homes peacefully and safely, with international guarantees,” he said.

Veldkamp concluded, “We urge the Human Rights Council and all UN member states to support this effort. There is still time to undo the ethnic cleansing of Nagorno Karabakh.”

CSI International President John Eibner pointed out that neither the United States, Russia, China, France nor the United Kingdom had actively opposed Azerbaijan’s ethnic cleansing of Armenian Christians from their historic homeland.

“CSI therefore endorses the statement of the political parties from Armenia and Artsakh, and calls on these Great Powers to act on its recommendations in the UN Security Council,” Eibner said. “A sustainable peace in the region depends on it.”

About CSI

Christian Solidarity International is an international human rights group campaigning for religious liberty and human dignity.

Joel Veldkamp
Christian Solidarity International
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