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

One particular hundred and 20 thousand Armenians of Artsakh have been retained beneath blockade by Azerbaijan for in excess of a week due to the fact December 12. Azerbaijan has shut down the a single and only route connecting Artsakh with Armenia. Inspite of the restoration of the region’s gas source, the road closure is creating a humanitarian crisis as Armenians have been slice off from entry to necessary goods and expert services.

Azerbaijan’s steps, as in the previous, violate worldwide law and can be considered a criminal offense against humanity. Azerbaijan’s steps constitute a deliberate act of denying humanitarian accessibility to the men and women of Artsakh, prohibited less than Geneva Conference IV, which Azerbaijan is a party to.¹ Added Protocol II, which Azerbaijan is not a social gathering to, classifies this as a “grave breach” that involves legal duty.² The Rome Statute of the Global Felony Court docket (ICC) explicitly lists hunger and barring humanitarian relief as prosecutable war crimes when dedicated in IACs but is silent as to NIACs.³ Whether Azerbaijan is a get together to these conventions or not, customary global regulation is obvious that the deliberate starvation and impediment of humanitarian relief is strictly prohibited.⁴

Azerbaijan’s actions are obviously barring humanitarian reduction, as there are stories that hospitals in Artsakh are doing work at a minimal capability without the need of the required medication and energy methods. Armenia’s Minister of Wellbeing announced this week that a 44-calendar year-outdated guy died at a healthcare facility in Artsakh because of to Azerbaijan’s blockade. Azerbaijan’s steps may perhaps before long lead to the hunger of Armenians of Artsakh, as standard requirements like bread are staying rationed. Azerbaijan is plainly violating intercontinental law as the relaxation of the planet watches, a thing that Armenians across the globe have sadly grown made use of to.

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1. Geneva Conference Relative to the Security of Civilian Folks in Time of War artwork. 23, Aug. 12, 1949, ‎75 U.N.T.S. 287.

2. Additional Protocol II, supra notice 3, artwork. 18(2).

3. Rome Statute of the International Criminal Courtroom, 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, Regulations 53, 55, ICRC, (past frequented Apr. 19. 2018).

Raffi Tapanian is a accredited lawyer in the Condition of California. He graduated from Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, California and handed the California Bar Examination in 2022. Raffi was the treasurer for the Armenian Law Students Association at Loyola. In 2019, Raffi graduated from UCLA with a significant in Background, though minoring in Armenian Reports.