Lemkin Institute wants int’l community’s support for ICJ’s Karabakh orders

PanARMENIAN.Net - The Lemkin Institute is concerned with the lack of support from the international community in enforcing ICJ's decisions ordering Azerbaijan to ensure free movement of goods and people through the Lachin Corridor in Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh), the Institute said in a statement on Wednesday, April 12.

“The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention is outraged at Azerbaijan’s blatant disregard for the binding International Court of Justice (ICJ) decision on provisional measures issued on February 22, 2023, which ordered Azerbaijan to ensure free movement of goods and people through the Lachin Corridor.

“Azerbaijan has failed to comply with this order despite the fact that it has accepted ICJ jurisdiction in the 2021 case on the Application of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (Armenia v. Azerbaijan) and it has been a party to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination since 1996.

“The Lemkin Institute is equally concerned with the lack of support from the international community in enforcing ICJ's decisions with viable mechanisms. The voluntary nature of international law renders it inept when a state decides not to implement the decisions of international tribunals. The Lemkin Institute strongly advocates for more forceful vehicles to implement those decisions and believes it is in the interest of all states to do so.”

Since December 12, the sole road connecting Nagorno Karabakh to Armenia - the Lachin Corridor - has been blocked by self-described Azerbaijani environmentalists. Karabakh residents have reported food and fuel shortages, while hospital patients don't have access to essential medicines, with only a handful allowed transfer to facilities in Armenia proper.