A hearing on safeguarding the people of Nagorno-Karabakh as risks of renewed violence in and around the enclave increase will be held at Congressional Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission on Wednesday, June 21,2023, Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission reports.
“Two and a half years after a bloody six-week war pushed Armenian forces out of Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding regions of Azerbaijan, tensions are again escalating. A blockade of the Lachin corridor to Nagorno-Karabakh by Azerbaijani-backed activists has entered its 7th month, and on April 23 Azerbaijan opened a military checkpoint on the corridor that is widely viewed as inconsistent with the provisions of the 2020 ceasefire agreement that ended the last war. A number of international efforts are underway to mitigate the risk of a new full-blown war, including by officials at the U.S. State Department. One major issue is what is required to adequately protect the rights and safety of ethnic Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh, where Azerbaijan seeks to assert control.
This hearing will examine the measures required to adequately safeguard, during this period of blockade and negotiation, a vulnerable ethnic population, and offer recommendations for U.S. policy”, the announcement said.
The hearing will be hosted by Christopher H. Smith, Member of Congress, Co-Chair, TLHRC, and James P. McGovern, Member of Congress, Co-Chair, TLHRC.
Ambassador Sam Brownback, Michael Rubin, Senior Fellow, American Enterprise Institute, and David Phillips, Director, Peace-Building and Human Rights Program, Institute for the Study of Human Rights, Columbia University, will be the panelists.
