BAKU: Azerbaijani Ministry of Foreign Affairs calls the international community, especially the relevant international organizations to react publicly to the deliberate targeting by Armenia of children and educational facilities in the Republic of Azerbaijan and take effective actions to stop the climate of impunity lasting for three decades, Trend reports citing the ministry.
“It is almost three decades that hundred of thousands of children in the Republic of Azerbaijan suffer from the ongoing aggression of Armenia and its long-lasting effects. During this period, Armenia ignoring moral imperatives and legal responsibilities, deprived the Azerbaijani children of their inherent rights defined in the international documents, as well as their right to be brought up in the spirit of the ideals proclaimed in the Charter of the United Nations, and in particular in the spirit of peace, dignity, equality, and solidarity as described in the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
The protection guaranteed for children by the IV Geneva Convention relative to the protection of civilians and I Additional Protocol, in particular the right to life, prohibition of corporal punishment, torture, collective punishment and reprisals, and the rules defined in these documents on the conduct of hostilities, such as the necessity of distinction between civilians and combatants and prohibition of attacks against civilians have been constantly infringed by Armenia. Armenia has also clearly ignored its obligations deriving from the principle of special protection for children laid down in I Additional Protocol which provides that “children shall be the object of special respect and shall be protected against any form of indecent assault,” the ministry said.
Armenia has been using acts of genocide as a means to instill fear and to terrorize the entire population and force them to flee. Only in Khojaly massacre 613 civilians of whom 63 were children were brutally killed and many were maimed by the armed forces of Armenia in 1992.
“1 million Azerbaijanis, one-third of whom are children were forcefully expelled and driven away from their homes contrary to Article 49 of IV Geneva Convention. For almost 15 years the larger part of the forcefully displaced children in Azerbaijan had to live in tent camps and villages consisting of luggage vans on railways which were subsequently abolished as a result of the tremendous efforts and budget resources allocated by the Government of the Republic of Azerbaijan.
The internally displaced children in Azerbaijan still cannot realize their right to voluntary return to their lands in safety and dignity despite the provisions of relevant documents, including the UN Security Council resolutions 822, 853, 874, and 884 adopted in 1993,” the ministry said. –Agencies
