UN Security Council convenes emergency meeting on Artsakh blockade

ArmInfo Armenia called on the United Nations to prevent genocide in blockaded Artsakh during an  emergency meeting convened by the U.N. Security Council today, the Armenian Weekly reports. 

"I do believe that this distinguished body, despite geopolitical  differences, has the capacity to act as a genocide prevention body  and not a genocide commemoration body when it might be too late,"  Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan said. 

The meeting was scheduled following an appeal from the government of  Armenia to address the "deterioration of the humanitarian situation"  in Artsakh. Azerbaijan's blockade of Artsakh has been ongoing since  December 12, 2022, when government-sponsored protesters posing as  eco-activists closed the Berdzor (Lachin) Corridor, the sole route  connecting Artsakh with Armenia and the rest of the world.  The  blockade was tightened on April 23, 2023, when Azerbaijan set up an  illegal military checkpoint along the corridor, placing all movement  between Armenia and Artsakh under the control of Azerbaijani border  guards. 

Artsakh leadership and international actors have warned that the  humanitarian crisis in Artsakh is deteriorating significantly. Food,  medicine and other basic supplies, which were already limited due to  the blockade, have dwindled since Azerbaijani border guards barred  deliveries of humanitarian aid in mid- June, which were previously  supplied by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and  the Russian peacekeeping mission. Azerbaijan has also blocked the  ICRC from transporting patients requiring medical assistance to  Armenia several times in the past two months.  

Several U.N. Security Council member countries called for the  immediate resumption of humanitarian aid deliveries to Artsakh by the  ICRC. 

"It is incumbent on the parties not to impede or politicize any  principled humanitarian efforts," said Edem Wosornu, the director of  operations and advocacy of the U.N. Office for Coordination of  Humanitarian Affairs. "Responding to humanitarian needs is not an act  of legitimization of recognition. It does not take sides, and it does  not yield to political influence," Wosornu said, calling for  humanitarian aid deliveries "through any available routes."

The Azerbaijani government has proposed delivering humanitarian  assistance to Artsakh via its territory through the  Azerbaijani-controlled city Agdam. Artsakh's leadership has rejected  this offer, stating that there can be no alternative to reopening the  Berdzor Corridor. 

Several member countries noted the possibility of delivering  humanitarian aid via Agdam during today's U.N. Security Council  meeting. Dmitry Polyanskiy, deputy permanent representative of Russia  to the U.N., said his country supports the use of alternative routes  for the delivery of humanitarian aid, particularly the "opening of a  parallel corridor through Agdam and Lachin for the movement of  civilians and cargo."

Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the United States ambassador to the U.N.,  acknowledged the "possibility of compromise on additional routes for  humanitarian supplies." "Neutral, impartial, humane and independent  humanitarian access and assistance, including medical transfers, must  not be hindered, full stop," she said. 

Silvio Gonzato, deputy head of the European Union delegation to the  U.N., said that the EU has "taken note of the expressed readiness of  Azerbaijani authorities to supply goods via the city Agdam. However,  this should not be seen as an alternative to the opening of the  Lachin Corridor." 

Yashar Aliyev, permanent representative of Azerbaijan to the U.N.,  accused Armenia of rejecting the offer to deliver goods through  Agdam, which he called evidence of Armenia's "political hypocrisy."  "If Armenia were genuinely concerned about ordinary residents of the  region, it would have never objected to the usage of the  Agdam-Khankendi [Stepanakert] road," Aliyev said. 

He claimed that international actors, including Russian peacekeepers  and the ICRC, had reached an agreement to open traffic along this  road. However, the agreement did not materialize due to Armenia's  objections. 

Mirzoyan said that there is "no alternative" to the Lachin Corridor,  which he called the "agreed link between Armenia and  Nagorno-Karabakh."

Mirzoyan also quoted former Prosecutor of the International Criminal  Court Luis Moreno Ocampo's expert opinion from August 7 arguing that  genocide is already underway in Artsakh. "There are no crematories,  and there are no machete attacks. Starvation is the invisible  Genocide weapon. Without immediate dramatic change, this group of  Armenians will be destroyed in a few weeks," Ocampo warned. 

Just one day prior to the U.N. Security Council meeting, the first  case of death by starvation was recorded in Artsakh since the start  of the region's ongoing blockade by Azerbaijan. 

40-year-old Karo Hovhannisyan died of "chronic malnutrition" and  "protein and energy deficiency," the Artsakh Human Rights Defender's  Office said on August 15. The office attributed his death to the  "catastrophic consequences of the ongoing eight-month blockade of  Artsakh by Azerbaijan."

It added that the blockade primarily affected the "health situation  of the most vulnerable groups in society - children, pregnant women,  people with chronic diseases, people with disabilities and older  persons."

Health conditions have been deteriorating among Artsakh's population.  The Artsakh Health Ministry attributes worsening health indicators to  the shortage of medicine and medical supplies, inadequate nutrition,  stress, suspension of scheduled surgeries and restricted access to  medical care in Armenia, all caused by the blockade. 

The Health Ministry has warned that medical supplies needed for  hemodialysis will run out before the end of the month. The ministry  appealed to the ICRC to conduct emergency evacuations of hemodialysis  patients to specialized facilities in Armenia, warning that patients  can die after a week of not receiving necessary treatment for kidney  failure. Of the 41 patients receiving hemodialysis, 29 were evacuated  to Armenia as of August 15. The remaining patients refused to be  transferred, either because they have minor children at home or they  are wheelchair-bound.

"I am bedridden. I have a caregiver at home. I want to live," said  64-year-old Vera Hovsepyan, who has been receiving hemodialysis for  the past five years. "I can't go to Yerevan in this state and receive  treatment, because I want to die in my wheelchair here in Artsakh and  be buried in my own cemetery."

"Patients who suffer from the terminal stage of acute and chronic  kidney failure have been severely affected by the blockade as they  can't follow a special diet, adding additional dangers for their life  and health," said Kristine Avagimyan, head of the hemodialysis  department at the Stepanakert hospital. 

Other health indicators have also worsened significantly since the  start of the blockade, especially since June, when Azerbaijan  prohibited the delivery of humanitarian aid to the region.

Deaths due to cardiovascular diseases more than doubled in July  compared to the same month last year, according to official data. 

Deaths caused by malignant neoplasms, or cancerous tumors, have  increased by more than 15-percent so far in 2023 compared to the same  time period last year. Newly diagnosed cases of malignant neoplasms  have increased by more than 24-percent. Health authorities attribute  this data to the shortage of medication, changes in quality of life  and severe limitations on adequate medical assistance. 

The incidence of strokes has increased by 26-percent, and heart  attacks, by nearly 10-percent. 

Pregnant women have been especially vulnerable to the detrimental  effects of the blockade on the healthcare system. Health officials  have recorded cases of anemia among 90-percent of pregnant women  under medical observation this year. This is a result of inadequate  nutrition and a shortage of medication. 

There has also been an increase in the number of stillbirths. Most  recently, a pregnant woman in the Haterk village of the Martakert  region could not reach the hospital in time, due to the fuel shortage  for ambulances, and lost her baby.

"The Ministry of Health of the Republic of Artsakh warns that in the  event of the continued full siege of Artsakh by Azerbaijan, the  mentioned and other indicators will further worsen, leading to the  loss of many lives or a deterioration in their health," the Artsakh  Health Ministry said on August 8.

More information is available here:  https://press.un.org/en/2023/sc15384.doc.htm