Either Cancel COP29 in Baku or Immediately Release Armenian Prisoners of War: Letter to the UN Office in Armenia

Parents of missing and captured servicemen and citizens held a rally in front of the UN office in Armenia on August 19, demanding either the cancellation of the UN Climate Change COP29 conference scheduled to take place in Baku in November, or the immediate release of Armenian prisoners before the conference.

Ruzanna Stepanyan, the initiator of the rally who submitted a letter with these demands to the UN office, told reporters that the protests would continue and that they would next approach embassies, international organizations, and the Diaspora. "We should not leave any organization's door unopened. We need to knock on their doors every day. We must demand from the UN to appeal to the International Criminal Court for the return of Armenian prisoners from Azerbaijan. The UN has all the tools to impose sanctions against Azerbaijan; we just need to be present and assertive in our demands. We must tell the UN: you are in our country, yet you ignore our demands," Stepanyan stated to the media.

The rally's initiator expects a response from the UN office in Armenia within 1-2 days, and if they do not receive a reply, they will move to the next steps. "We demand the cancellation of COP29 in Baku as long as our boys are there or that they be released immediately before the conference. Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev has stated that 'COP29 is a humanitarian conference.' We cannot understand how a humanitarian conference can be held in a country where prisoners are being held," she added.

In December 2023, Armenia had supported Azerbaijan's application to host the COP29 conference. In December, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo and several French politicians had opposed the holding of COP29 in Baku in 2024. On June 4, German human rights defenders demanded the release of Armenian prisoners ahead of the COP29 in Baku. According to the Armenian Foreign Ministry, there are a total of 23 Armenian prisoners in Baku, including former presidents of Artsakh Bako Sahakyan, Arayik Harutyunyan, Arkadi Ghukasyan, former State Minister and businessman Ruben Vardanyan, former Foreign Minister David Babayan, National Assembly Speaker David Ishkhanian, former commander of the Artsakh Defense Army General-Lieutenant Levon Mnatsakanyan, and former deputy commander of the Defense Army David Manukyan.