The suffering of 120 000 people of Nagorno-Karabakh deserves greater attention. But before anything else, they deserve that their fundamental human rights are respected, Swedish MP Boriana Åberg said at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) debate on the humanitarian consequences of the blockade of the Lachin corridor.
“It’s not a question of territorial integrity. It’s not a question about Armenia or about Azerbaijan. It’s a question of human rights. Since the Lachin corridor, the only road that links Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia was blocked by so called environmentalists on 12 December, a humanitarian crisis has struck its residence. There is a shortage of food, and a Russian stump-based system has since been introduced. Medicine, including for children and persons with long-term medical conditions, a largely unavailable,” she said.
“Furthermore, during the blockade, the gas supplies were disrupted in two occasions. In that also lies the problem of electricity supply after Azerbaijan damaged the only high-voltage power line which supplies Nagorno-Karabakh. The line is not restored yet, as the Azerbaijani forces did not allow reparation teams,” the MP noted.
“People in Nagorno-Karabakh are freezing and starving in the darkness. This darkness also covers informational darkness, since one internet cable was cut by so called activists on 12 January,” the Swedish delegate said.
Noting that despite the significant international pressure, further straightened by the fact that the European Court of Human Rights indicated interim measures to Azerbaijan on this subject, Azerbaijan has decided to ignore these pleas.
