I returned, heartbroken, on Sunday from Armenia, where I met Armenians suffering from forced displacement by Azerbaijan from their homeland of Nagorno‑Karabakh; and others living in fear imposed by Azerbaijan’s current creeping invasion and occupation of Armenian sovereign territory.
I heard accounts of Azerbaijan’s continuing imprisonment of Armenians as hostages; and of the grave suffering inflicted by Azerbaijan on the Armenian civilians of Nagorno-Karabakh through its brutal blockade, since December, of the Lachin corridor – the only internationally recognised access route for provision of essential food and medical supplies – causing severe health problems including the risk of malnutrition for 30,000 children, which may cause irreversible physical and mental stunting.
We met civilians in the established Armenian town of Goris, who described how they live in constant fear of military offensives from a visible Azeri military emplacement ensconced inside Armenian borders. And we were frequently told about the continuing imprisonment of Armenians by Azerbaijan in gross violation of a 2020 ceasefire agreement.
We photographed the aid trucks held at the border and Azerbaijan’s military bases illegally located inside Armenia. As Luis Moreno Ocampo, who was the first chief prosecutor of the international criminal court, wrote in a recent report: “Starvation is the invisible genocide weapon.”
Earlier this month, Elchin Amirbayov, the Azerbaijani president’s representative, warned that “a genocide may happen” in Nagorno‑Karabakh if its leaders fail to submit to Azerbaijan’s demands.
We must ask the UK government when and how it will fulfil its responsibility under international law to prevent genocide.
Caroline Cox
Founder, Humanitarian Aid Relief Trust; crossbench peer
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