Baku, Azerbaijan, Aug. 23
Trend:
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) continues to make efforts for peaceful settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and hopes that it is able to ensure the protection of children affected by the conflict.
The Office of Human Rights Commissioner (Ombudsman) of Azerbaijan told Trend Aug. 23 that, the abovementioned is an exert from the reply of Cornelius Williams, associate director of Child Protection at UNICEF, to the statement of the Azerbaijani Ombudsman, in connection with the murder of 2-year-old Zahra Guliyeva, as a result of shelling of Alkhanli village of Azerbaijan’s Fuzuli district by the Armenian armed forces on July 4, 2017.
The letter says that, as it was previously noted in March by the UN Secretary General, the UNICEF supports the appeal to the parties to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict to refrain from any actions that could violate the ceasefire and demonstrate resoluteness in its peaceful settlement.
No community, no family has to suffer from the loss of children as a result of armed conflicts, says the letter.
It is also noted that, the UNICEF office in Azerbaijan will continue to provide assistance in the protection of children and youth.
It should be reminded that, the appeal of the Azerbaijani Ombudsman Elmira Suleymanova was sent to the UN Secretary General, UN Security Council and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, UNESCO, Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), European Commission, Council of Europe, OSCE, International Ombudsman Institute (IOI), European Ombudsman Institute (EOI), Asian Ombudsman Association, International Peace Bureau, ombudsmen of various countries, embassies of Azerbaijan in foreign countries and embassies of foreign countries in Azerbaijan, as well as Azerbaijan’s diaspora organizations.
On July 4, 2017, at about 20:40 (UTC +4), the Armenian armed forces, using 82-mm and 120-mm mortars and grenade launchers, shelled Azerbaijani positions and territories populated by the civilians, namely the Alkhanli village of the country’s Fuzuli district. As a result of this provocation, the residents of the village Sahiba Guliyeva, 50, and Zahra Guliyeva, 2, were killed. Servinaz Guliyeva, 52, who got wounded, was taken to a hospital and was operated on.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992, the Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan’s territory, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.
The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by the peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.