Azerbaijan’s blockade of Artsakh is a violation of international law

One particular hundred and twenty thousand Armenians of Artsakh have been saved below blockade by Azerbaijan for in excess of a 7 days given that December 12. Azerbaijan has shut down the 1 and only route connecting Artsakh with Armenia. Despite the restoration of the region’s gas source, the road closure is resulting in a humanitarian crisis as Armenians have been cut off from obtain to important products and services.

Azerbaijan’s steps, as in the previous, violate worldwide legislation and can be thought of a criminal offense versus humanity. Azerbaijan’s steps represent a deliberate act of denying humanitarian obtain to the folks of Artsakh, prohibited underneath Geneva Convention IV, which Azerbaijan is a bash to.¹ Added Protocol II, which Azerbaijan is not a occasion to, classifies this as a “grave breach” that involves legal responsibility.² The Rome Statute of the Worldwide Felony Court docket (ICC) explicitly lists starvation and barring humanitarian aid as prosecutable war crimes when dedicated in IACs but is silent as to NIACs.³ Whether or not Azerbaijan is a social gathering to these conventions or not, customary global law is clear that the deliberate hunger and impediment of humanitarian relief is strictly prohibited.⁴

Azerbaijan’s steps are plainly barring humanitarian aid, as there are reports that hospitals in Artsakh are performing at a constrained capability with out the essential medicine and electrical power methods. Armenia’s Minister of Overall health introduced this week that a 44-calendar year-old person died at a healthcare facility in Artsakh because of to Azerbaijan’s blockade. Azerbaijan’s steps may perhaps before long guide to the starvation of Armenians of Artsakh, as essential necessities like bread are becoming rationed. Azerbaijan is clearly violating international regulation as the rest of the globe watches, some thing that Armenians throughout the world have regrettably developed employed to.

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1. Geneva Convention Relative to the Safety of Civilian Persons in Time of War art. 23, Aug. 12, 1949, ‎75 U.N.T.S. 287.

2. More Protocol II, supra notice 3, art. 18(2).

3. Rome Statute of the Intercontinental Criminal Court docket, arts. 8(2)(b)(xxv), 8(2)(c), 8(2)(e), July 17, 1998, 2187 U.N.T.S. 90 [hereinafter Rome Statute].

4. Customary IHL Database, Rules 53, 55, ICRC, (previous frequented Apr. 19. 2018).

Raffi Tapanian is a accredited lawyer in the Condition of California. He graduated from Loyola Legislation College in Los Angeles, California and handed the California Bar Examination in 2022. Raffi was the treasurer for the Armenian Law Students Affiliation at Loyola. In 2019, Raffi graduated from UCLA with a important in History, even though minoring in Armenian Scientific studies.