Red Cross Unable to Deliver Food and Hygiene Supplies to Bardzravan Village: Human Rights Defender

Someone thinks that Azerbaijan has closed these roads without knowing what kind of hardships people are facing and how much harder life is becoming for them. This was noted by the Human Rights Defender of Armenia, Arman Tatoyan, on his Facebook page.

“Azerbaijani armed servicemen have closed the Goris-Kapan and Kapan-Jacaten roads since November 2021 through openly criminal acts. Every day, every minute, the rights of the residents of Goris and Kapan, our people, are violated. In the villages of Bardzravan, Shurnukh, and Vorotan in Goris, as well as in Kapan’s Jacaten, Shikahogh, Srashen, Nerkhin Hand, Tsav, and Shishkert villages, people are isolated and face humanitarian issues, especially due to weather conditions. For example, in the Goris community, teachers have been unable to reach their workplaces even by military Ural vehicles due to the weather conditions through so-called alternative routes. Isn’t this a violation of education, labor, and the right to free movement?

The road section leading to Bardzravan, particularly the Tatev-Kapan road, is impassable and in very poor condition. Isn’t this also a violation of the right to free movement and related rights?

The International Committee of the Red Cross was unable to deliver food and hygiene supplies to Bardzravan village by their all-terrain vehicle on January 20. We have confirmed all this today. The employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations and the border guard troops of the National Security Service are selflessly delivering food to the villages, but it's very difficult. How will access to emergency medical assistance, hospitalizations, and so on be ensured? Isn’t this a matter of the right to health and life?

Are there no questions of dignity here? In both Goris and Kapan, the so-called alternative roads leading to the mentioned villages are under the observation of Azerbaijani armed servicemen. Kapan’s Geghanush village, through which these roads lead to Jacaten and other villages, is also under the direct targeting of those country’s soldiers. This means that security is not guaranteed either.

And why should our residents suffer such hardships due to the unfounded and simply criminal actions of Azerbaijani armed servicemen and authorities? Doesn’t this mean that it is done with the intention of harming our peaceful residents, that the politics of hatred continues and has not ended? In this situation, can Azerbaijan's peaceful intentions be honest or real?

All these questions should be at the core of our country's state policy. How could it be said that their presence on the roads is ‘Azerbaijani territory and we can do nothing about it’? How could there be praise for alternative routes and ‘justifications’ for Azerbaijani violations while politicizing those who raise human rights issues? Are the hardships inflicted on people political issues? Can security and human rights be separated from a person? On the contrary, it is the direct positive obligation of the state to protect those rights, to do everything possible to ensure that a person’s security is not compromised, and that human rights issues are not politicized. Otherwise, we will lose our security completely.

We must work towards their removal so that the internationally guaranteed rights of our residents are restored. Therefore, the solution is clear: Azerbaijani armed servicemen must be removed from near our villages and roads, period. Our citizens, the entire peaceful population of our country, should not suffer hardships due to the Azerbaijani authorities’ policy of hatred that has lasted for years. We have the legal rights to defend our rights and to live with dignity. International regulations allow us to do this: OSCE, UN, and other organizational regulations,” Tatoyan wrote.