Online meetings of the 2021 summer session are being held at the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (PA).
Ani Samsonyan, member of the Armenian delegation to OSCE PA and member of the outgoing Parliament of Armenia, spoke at OSCE Parliamentary Assembly's Committee on Democracy, Human Rights and Humanitarian Questions, and talked about making the Armenian prisoners of war (POWs) in Azerbaijan a subject of trade, and the illegal presence of Azerbaijani troops in the sovereign territory of Armenia.
“Ms. Henriksen,
First of all, I would like to express my gratitude to you for preparing a report on human rights in these difficult conditions of the world’s pandemic situation and presenting it to the OSCE PA.
I expected to see mentions in this report about Armenian prisoners war and captives, because this an issue of fundamental human rights.
Unfortunately, I have to speak out once again about the fact that Azerbaijan continues to violate this principle, does not return Armenian prisoners of war, civilian captives including women.
These days, trials have begun in Azerbaijan against Armenian captives, which completely violates the principles of international law, the rights of captives and their families.
The issue of humanitarian law is politicized by Azerbaijan. I will post a link in the conversation chat and show video where the presidents of Azerbaijan and Turkey were talking about Armenian prisoners of war as a subject of trade, planning to return them in exchange for maps of the mined areas in Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh).
This is an undeniable evidence that Azerbaijan is engaged in human trafficking, and the Armenian prisoners of war are the subject of political bargaining for Azerbaijan. They are being illegally held for exchange of mined maps.
Therefore, all the trials against the Armenian prisoners of war are fake processes, their purpose is to throw dust in your eyes.
I would like to draw your attention to the fact that since May 12 the Azerbaijani troops have violated the territorial integrity of Armenia; they are in our sovereign territory illegally until today.
We call on our European partners to impose sanctions on Azerbaijan for violating Article 2 of the UN Charter.
I once said and want to repeat it again that such gross violations of international law by Azerbaijan should be a cause of concern not only for Armenia, but also for the entire international community, because Azerbaijan's behavior and confidence in impunity are a threat for the international legal system, for not only regional but also world security and peace.
Dear colleagues, Azerbaijan must leave the sovereign territory of Armenia and return all illegally held prisoners of war. You have a significant role in this issue, because with joint effort we can protect international legal order and reach security and peace in the world,” Samsonyan said in her speech.
