BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 17. The periodic report on the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination was presented in Geneva as part of the 107th session of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination on August 15-16, Trend reports via the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan.
The delegation consisting of representatives of relevant state structures headed by Deputy Foreign Minister Elnur Mammadov represented Azerbaijan at the event.
During his presentation, Mammadov noted that Azerbaijan attaches great importance to cooperation with the relevant UN human rights treaty bodies. He stressed that Azerbaijan is a multi-ethnic country, and he provided information on the effective activities of the Baku International Center for Multiculturalism in the field of promoting the values of multiculturalism and preserving cultural, religious and linguistic diversity in the country.
The deputy foreign minister pointed out that the main obstacle to the implementation of the convention was the ethnic cleansing and the occupation of Azerbaijani territories for decades carried out by Armenia.
He informed about Azerbaijan's work in connection with the return of internally displaced persons to their native lands after the end of the conflict as a result of the country's victory in the 2020 Second Karabakh War and the restoration of multi-ethnic communities in these territories, mentioning that clearing these territories of mines and unexploded ordnances is one of the priorities in this issue.
Besides, Mammadov stressed that in the decision of the court on provisional measures in the case initiated by Armenia in the International Court against Azerbaijan, many appeals of Armenia were rejected, and in a similar case on the claim filed by Azerbaijan against Armenia, the court demanded that Armenia take measures to suppress the incitement and propaganda of racial hatred.
The committee noted that issues related to hate speech in Armenia will be considered during the presentation of the periodic report of the Government of Armenia.
After the presentation of the report, an interactive constructive dialogue was held, and answers were given to the questions raised by the committee members.
The committee members welcomed the consistent measures taken in Azerbaijan to preserve the values of multiculturalism, tolerance and religious toleration.