The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention has published a new report on the risk of genocide by Azerbaijan in Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh).
In a statement, the Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention said it has released an emergency draft of the report due to the dire circumstances of the blockade and Azerbaijan’s military buildup along the borders of Artsakh and Armenia.
“The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention hopes that this report will contribute to global resolve to protect the lives and the identity of the Armenians of Artsakh, prevent a Second Armenian Genocide, pressure Azerbaijan to accept self-determination for the people of Artsakh, and initiate a long-overdue process of transformative justice in the region that allows Armenians and Azeris to voice their historical grievances and find common ground around accountability, peace-building, and human security. The Report uses the United Nations Framework of Analysis for Atrocity Crimes to outline and analyze (in detail) the risk factors and indicators for atrocity crimes, with a special focus on the crime of genocide. We have chosen to focus on the crime of genocide because the evidence in this report points to the existence of several serious red flags for genocide, typical genocidal patterns, and evidence of the special intent to commit that crime,” an excerpt from the executive summary of the report reads.
The institute said that the evidence presented in the report suggests that the crime of genocide may already be taking place in the form of the blockade.
“In fact, the evidence presented here suggests that the crime of genocide may already be taking place in the form of the blockade, which is both “Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group” and “deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part” (paragraphs II.b. and II.c. of the 1948 Genocide Convention). Azerbaijan’s crimes conform to Patterns 5 (Gross human rights violations + mass cultural destruction), 6 (Man-made famine/”Genocide by Attrition”), 7 (Environmental despoliation /”Ecocide” and land alienation), and 9 (Denial and/or prevention of identity) of the Lemkin Institute’s Ten Patterns of Genocide and seem to be headed towards patterns 1 (Gender-neutral mass murder characterized by gendered atrocity) and/or 2 (Mass murder of ‘battle-aged men’ + atrocities against women and children).”
“The deep imbrication of eliminationist anti-Armenian hate within the Aliyev regime and Azerbaijani institutions of government leads us to conclude that Azerbaijan is a genocidal state. This fact must be addressed before there can be any peace in the region,” it added.
The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention warned that “there is alarming evidence that President Aliyev may be planning a military assault on Artsakh in the very near future.”
“A military assault on Artsakh could lead to the mass murder stage of genocide. It would almost assuredly result in the forced displacement of Armenians from Artsakh and the widespread commission of genocidal atrocities, reflecting those committed in the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War of 2020 and subsequent hostilities,” it said.
The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention recommends that members of the international community, including United Nations member states with influence over Azerbaijan, undertake the following actions to prevent the starvation and forced population displacement of Armenians in Artsakh as well as any possible future genocidal assaults on the Armenians of the Republic of Armenia:
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