U.S. Congress Members Urge Leadership to Hold Azerbaijan Accountable
Sixty U.S. congress members have called on the country’s leadership to hold Azerbaijan accountable for war crimes ahead of the UN COP29 climate summit. This was reported by the Armenian National Committee of America.
Without facing accountability for the genocidal ethnic cleansing in Artsakh, global leaders must use the COP29 summit as an opportunity to examine and analyze the blatant human rights violations in Azerbaijan and to respond to the genocidal regime, war crimes, and atrocities, said the committee’s director, – Aram Hambarayan.
The congress members noted that the 2020 attack on Nagorno-Karabakh, the 10-month blockade of the Lachin corridor, and the ethnic cleansing of Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh in September 2023 have clearly violated international law.
We demand that the State Department exert pressure on Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and the Azerbaijani government to take tangible measures to support regional peace, protect human rights, and uphold international laws and norms. To create favorable diplomatic conditions at COP29, we demand that Azerbaijan immediately release Armenian prisoners of war and political prisoners, the congress members stated.
The letter to Congress is led by Frank Pallone and Senator Markey, calling on the administration to prioritize human rights at COP29.
To date, Azerbaijan continues to detain at least two dozen Armenian prisoners of war and political prisoners, with little information available about many others. International human rights groups, such as Human Rights Watch, have repeatedly highlighted the torture of Armenian captives and the war crimes committed during the 44-day war.