World community should no longer keep silence on Karabakh conflict

By Azernews

By Kamila Aliyeva

The time has come to no longer keep silence and stop the horrible deeds of Armenians. 

The recent provocation of Armenia which resulted in the death of two civilians gives grounds to the world community and international institutions to take counter-measures against the ceasefire violator.

The armed forces of Armenia violated ceasefire on July 4, and using 82-mm and 120-mm mortars and grenade launchers, shelled Azerbaijani positions and territories where the civilian population lives, namely the Alkhanli village of the country’s Fuzuli district, thereby grossly violating the requirements of international law.

As a result of this provocation, the residents of the village Sahiba Guliyeva, 50, and Zakhra Guliyeva, 2, were killed. The prosecutor’s office of Azerbaijan’s Fizuli district has already initiated a criminal case over Armenia’s provocative actions on the contact line.

The last provocation may aggravate the whole situation around Nagorno-Karabakh conflict as it directly violates the Geneva Conventions related to the protection of civilian persons in time of war and international law.  

Innocent civilians, including women and children, living in Azerbaijani villages which are close to the frontline are frequent victims of the Armenian armed forces. The fragile armistice, achieved 23 years ago in Kyrgyzstan's capital Bishkek, is violated almost every day. The Armenian forces regularly shell the positions of the Azerbaijani army and strike civilians including children.

Lack of judicial assessment of the such actions provide ground for further escalation. A protocol adopted as an amendment to the Geneva Conventions in 1977 prohibits the deliberate or indiscriminate attack of civilians and civilian objects in the war-zone and the attacking force must take precautions and steps to spare the lives of civilians and civilian objects as possible.

The four 1949 Geneva Conventions and their 1977 Additional Protocols offer specific protection to children during armed conflict. In fact, children benefit from two-tiered protection under international humanitarian law: the general protection they enjoy as civilians or persons not or no longer participating in hostilities and the specific protection they enjoy as children.

More than 25 articles in the Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocols refer specifically to children. 

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.