...

Armenia's landmine threat on Azerbaijan's lands must come to an end - Azerbaijani MFA

Politics Materials 4 April 2023 12:27 (UTC +04:00)
Armenia's landmine threat on Azerbaijan's lands must come to an end - Azerbaijani MFA
Humay Aghajanova
Humay Aghajanova
Read more

BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 4. During 30 years of the Armenian occupation, 3,345 Azerbaijanis, including 357 kids, became landmine victims, Trend reports referring to the tweet of the Spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan Aykhan Hajizada.

"After 2020-war 50 Azerbaijanis were killed, and 238 maimed by Armenia-planted landmines. Armenia must end landmine threats and fulfill IHL [international humanitarian law] obligations," the tweet said.

On 8 December 2005, the UN General Assembly declared that 4 April of each year shall be observed as the International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action. It called for continued efforts by States, with the assistance of the United Nations and relevant organizations, to foster the establishment and development of national mine-action capacities in countries where mines and explosive remnants of war constitute a serious threat to the safety, health and lives of the civilian population, or an impediment to social and economic development at the national and local levels.

In 2023 the United Nations Mine Action Service will acknowledge the day under the campaign “Mine Action Cannot Wait”, highlighting decades of contamination in Cambodia, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic and Vietnam, as well as draw attention to recent explosive ordnance contamination.

Meanwhile, Azerbaijan has for years been a victim of Armenia's mining of its territories. Following the end of the Second Karabakh War in 2020, Azerbaijan started large-scale work on de-mining its liberated territories, yet the mine threat remains.

In March 2023, 270 anti-personnel and 656 anti-tank landmines, as well as 1,465 units of unexploded ordnance, were discovered and removed in Tartar, Aghdam, Khojavand, Fuzuli, Lachin, Khojaly, Shusha, Gubadli, Jabrayil, and Zangilan districts as part of the de-mining process. A total area of 5,983.6 hectares has been cleared of mines and unexploded ordnance.

Tags:
Latest

Latest