This year, the Red Cross has increased funding for its mission in Nagorno-Karabakh fivefold to 50 million euros, President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Peter Maurer said in an interview with Izvestia.
The president of the organization also added that the ICRC is ready to assist in the exchange of prisoners of war (POWs) between Baku and Yerevan, but the dispute over the status of the detained persons should be resolved by Azerbaijan and Armenia themselves.
- In November last year, after the end of the conflict in Karabakh, you announced that you plan to quadruple the funding for the Karabakh direction of the ICRC’s work, as well as expand the staff in the region to 400-500 people. What is the Red Cross doing in the area now?
- At the moment, we have a budget about four to five times more than in all 27 years before. Previously, our budget was approximately 10-11 million euros. And now we are approaching 50 million euros and have significantly increased our presence in the region. We help displaced people; we help people who are returning. No less important is the work involved in visiting prisoners from both sides and participating in rebuilding ties with their families. If the need arises and there is an opportunity, we will probably continue to build up our presence here, but at a slower pace because it is very difficult to get funding for these operations.
- You said that you visited the detainees on both sides. How is the process of exchange of prisoners of war between Armenia and Azerbaijan going now?
- Progress has been made, the prisoners are returning to their homes. And at the same time, there are still debates about some of the detainees, whether they are considered prisoners of war, what their status is and whether they can return. We continue to address these issues.
- In Azerbaijan, they claim that the prisoners of war remaining in the country are actually saboteurs from Armenia who were preparing provocations. Therefore, Azerbaijan is in no hurry to return them. Does the Red Cross visit these detainees?
- Yes, the Red Cross has direct access to detainees. The Azerbaijani Government informed us that, as you rightly said, there were disagreements with the Armenian side regarding the status of the (detainees). Baku and Yerevan should settle this problem among themselves. We can share our experience, we can advise something, but the respective governments must determine and make a final assessment of the status themselves. We are in contact with both sides. And I hope that in the future it will be possible to find a solution to the problem for all detainees who are in Armenia and Azerbaijan.
- The ICRC visited these detainees in Azerbaijan. In what conditions are they kept there?
- We do not give a public assessment of this. We visit to assess the conditions of the people, but as you know, this is a confidential process for ICRC. We are working with all the authorities in the region to make our comments to the relevant authorities, and for now, I cannot say more.
- On June 23, you met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. What did you discuss?
- We discussed most of the conflicts in which at the moment our interests coincide on humanitarian issues. We have very close cooperation with the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation on Nagorno-Karabakh, with the Russian troops and peacekeepers who are deployed there. We are working very closely with Russia on Syria; the restoration of the local infrastructure is also one of the important issues for us and for Russia.
