Azerbaijan asked the judges of the Worldwide Court docket of Justice (ICJ) on Monday to throw out the “racial discrimination” case began by Armenia in September 2021, the place the latter accused Azerbaijan of discrimination and ethnic cleaning of Armenian individuals in violation of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD).
Deputy Minister of the Republic of Azerbaijan Elnur Mammadov argued Armenia misused the CERD by basing its complaints on Article 22 of the conference when invoking allegations of “critical mistreatment of Armenians together with troopers, prisoners of battle and civilians” related to the navy battle over the Nagorno-Karabakh area as a result of “such points don’t lend themselves to the ICJ’s jurisdiction beneath CERD.” He additionally added that Armenia didn’t pursue negotiations with Azerbaijan to attempt to resolve the dispute earlier than turning to court docket as requested by Article 22.
Azerbaijan’s lawyer, Samuel Wordsworth, confirmed Elnur Mammadov’s argument that the ICJ lacks jurisdiction to rule on the complaints filed by Armenia. In response to Wordsworth, all of the allegations invoked by Armenia “would represent, if confirmed, critical breaches of worldwide humanitarian regulation” that don’t fall inside the scope of CERD, and linking them to the applying or interpretation of the CERD is an “impermissible conflation” between the talked about conference and worldwide humanitarian regulation.
The case is said to the long-standing battle between the 2 nations over the Nagorno-Karabakh area, which is positioned inside Azerbaijan however has been beneath the management of Armenian forces since 1994 and is house to the breakaway state of Artsakh. In September 2023, Azerbaijan performed a military operation within the disputed area and managed to place an finish to the Armenian management, which led to the official dissolution of the State of Artsakh and the flight of virtually all the inhabitants inhabiting the area to Armenia. Azerbaijan is sure to sure obligations in the direction of Armenian individuals beneath the CERD, comparable to permitting the secure and unhindered return of Armenian residents who left Nagorno-Karabakh, along with making certain that those that selected to remain are equally and correctly handled. Nevertheless, these obligations weren’t deemed credible to Armenia, and the latter needed to flip to worldwide justice to ask for provisional measures in opposition to what she calls the “ethnic cleaning” of Armenians and the deliberate destruction of their tradition.
The case between Armenia and Azerbaijan continues to be pending earlier than the ICJ. The hearings happen all through this week till April 19.
