The Nagorno-Karabakh Foreign Ministry issued a comment regarding the hearings on Nagorno-Karabakh at the US Congressional Committee. It says:
"We welcome the emergency hearing held by the U.S. Congressional Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission on the ongoing illegal blockade of the Lachin Corridor by Azerbaijan. We highly appreciate the relentless efforts of Co-Chairs of the Congressional Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, Congressmen Smith and McGovern for keeping the humanitarian disaster in Artsakh in the focus of the international community's attention.
It is significant that during the hearings, the speakers gave their clear legal and political assessment to Azerbaijan's actions, qualifying them as genocide against the people of Artsakh. In this context, the speakers called on the U.S. authorities to take immediate practical steps to prevent the genocide in Artsakh.
We expect the U.S. and other international actors to proceed from numerous condemning statements to practical steps, forcing Azerbaijan to immediately and unconditionally lift the illegal blockade of the Lachin Corridor and to restore the mode of operation of the Corridor in compliance with the provisions of the November 9, 2020 Trilateral Statement and the binding decisions of the International Court of Justice.
Genocide prevention is the individual and collective responsibility of all members of the international community, which provides for taking clear and efficient steps. We are convinced that the prevention of genocide in Artsakh is needed not only to eliminate the impunity of Azerbaijan, but also to exclude the recurrence of such crimes against humanity in other corners of the world."
