The Armenian Women’s Bar Association strongly condemns Azerbaijan’s unilateral military action and role in the closing of the Lachin Corridor since December 2022, which has led to a humanitarian crisis among the native Armenian population of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh).

The ArmenianWBA notes in particular the U.N. Convention Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, which holds that “The total breakdown of State public and service provision infrastructure is one of the major and direct consequences of armed conflict, resulting in the lack of delivery of essential services to the population. In such situations, women and girls are at the front line of suffering.”

According to the Human Rights Defender of Armenia Anahit Manasyan, 60,000 women are under blockade. On August 15, 2023, a pregnant woman could not reach the hospital on time because of fuel shortage for emergency vehicles, and lost her unborn baby as a result.

Speakers recently told the U.N. Security Council that movement through the Lachin Corridor — connecting Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia and the rest of the world — must be reopened “immediately”.

In February, the International Court of Justice ordered Azerbaijan to “take all measures at its disposal to ensure the unimpeded movement of persons, vehicles and cargo along the Lachin corridor in both directions.”

Luis Moreno Ocampo, former Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, wrote that the “blockade of the Lachin Corridor by the Azerbaijani security forces impeding access to any food, medical supplies, and other essentials should be considered a Genocide under Article II, (c) of the Genocide Convention.”

The ArmenianWBA supports and advocates for any actions aimed at preventing human rights and war crimes committed against the ethnic Armenian population of Artsakh.