News - Human Rights Defender expresses concern about accumulation of military equipment on the border

The Human Rights Defender expresses grave concern about the accumulation of military equipment and armed forces by Azerbaijan on the border with Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh. Armenia's Human Rights Defender's office says in a statement.  "The monitoring of open sources conducted by the Human Rights Defender’s Office of Armenia, as well as the analysis and study of the alarming-calls addressed to the Defender’s Office, prove that the Azerbaijani side is accumulating a large amount of military equipment and military forces along the lines of contact with Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, further worsening the situation of protection of human rights in Nagorno-Karabakh and the border communities of Armenia.The monitoring carried out by the Defender’s Office proves that the targeted shootings conducted by the Azerbaijani armed forces from weapons of various calibers in the direction of the combat positions of the Armenian Armed Forces, as well as the civilian communities and infrastructures have increased recently, creating a real danger from the viewpoint of the fundamental rights of the civilian population of the border communities.The results of the previous fact-finding activities carried out by the Human Rights Defender in the border communities, as well as the ad hoc reports of the Human Rights Defender on the blocking of the Lachin corridor prove that the violations of the fundamental human rights, including the rights to life and security, physical and mental integrity, education, property, entrepreneurship, are caused, among other factors, by the policy of Armenophobia of the Azerbaijani authorities, and are aimed at keeping the residents in a constant state of stress and anxiety, thus contributing to the depopulation of Armenians and ethnic cleansing policies in those regions.In this context, the Defender highly values the statement of the prestigious international human rights organization Freedom House, which condemns any plans to attack the sovereign territory of Armenia, and also notes that the blockade of the Lachin corridor creates a threat of ethnic cleansing for the Armenian population of the region and exacerbates the ongoing humanitarian crisis.The acts of the Azerbaijani armed forces grossly violate the universally recognized principles of international humanitarian law, and fundamental human rights. Therefore, the international community should make an adequate assessment, and take effective measures to the impending disaster," says the statement.