The closure of the vital lifeline by Azerbaijan has been
instigating conditions of a man-made humanitarian catastrophe. Permanent
Representative of Armenia to the U.N. Mher Margaryan said in his interview with
BBC Newshour radio news programme.
“Today is exactly eight months that thousands of besieged
families in Nagorno-Karabakh have been suffering from critical shortages of
essential goods, including food, fuel and medical supplies,” Margaryan said.
He noted that it is up to the Security Council to uphold
this responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security and
to take appropriate measures to prevent mass atrocities from happening in
Nagorno-Karabakh.
“The International Court of Justice issued a provisional
measure in February, and then once again reaffirmed it in July, according to
which Azerbaijan should take all measures to ensure unimpeded movement of
persons, vehicles and cargo along the Lachin corridor, which Azerbaijan is not
implementing to this day,” he said.
Margaryan noted that many reputable scholars and experts on
genocide have been writing and making statements about the clear genocidal
intent of Azerbaijan in relation to the population of Nagorno-Karabakh.
“The Security Council has various actions in its toolbox.
Most appropriate would be a resolution to mandate the United Nations
Humanitarian Assistance Office to have an assessment mission to
Nagorno-Karabakh and to deliver the humanitarian assistance that the population
is in need of, and to implement the legally binding orders of the International
Court of Justice by opening the Lachin corridor. The humanitarian convoy has
been stranded on the border for two weeks now. This situation is not about the
status of Nagorno-Karabakh. The people are suffering. There is no food. There
are shortages of medicine. There is an acute need for the international
community to intervene in this case to prevent mass atrocities from happening
now,” the RA representative to the U.N. said.
