Today, on October 7, at the OSCE ODIHR Human Dimension Conference in Warsaw, Ruzanna Avagimyan, a lawyer and advocate for the \u201cUnion of Informed Citizens\u201d NGO, spoke about the systemic violations of international humanitarian and human rights in the South Caucasus. In her speech, Ruzanna Avagimyan emphasized that there can be no genuine dialogue or inclusion without justice and freedom for all prisoners of war and civilian captives. The text of Ruzanna Avagimyan\u2019s speech is below.<\/p>\n
\u201cDistinguished delegates, human rights experts,<\/p>\n
My intervention will focus on the catastrophic failure of accountability and the systemic deconstruction of International Humanitarian and Human Rights Law in the South Caucasus. The principle of non-derogation from core humanitarian norms has been rendered meaningless.<\/p>\n
Reports by Human Rights Watch and extensive case submissions to the ECHR confirm that the Armenian service personnel and civilians, including elderly, were subjected to extrajudicial killings, severe torture, cruel and degrading treatment while in Azerbaijani custody. Videos circulated by the perpetrators themselves show soldiers out of combat (hors de combat) being summarily executed.<\/p>\n