United States HRES 1327: Condemning Azerbaijan for perpetrating an ethnic cleansing campaign against the Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Bill Text

IV
118TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION H. RES. 1327
Condemning Azerbaijan for perpetrating an ethnic cleansing campaign against
the Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JUNE 27, 2024
Ms. ESHOO (for herself and Mr. SMITH of New Jersey) submitted the
following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs
RESOLUTION
Condemning Azerbaijan for perpetrating an ethnic cleansing
campaign against the Armenian population of Nagorno-
Karabakh.
Whereas Nagorno-Karabakh is part of the traditional home-
land of the Armenian people and has been a center of Ar-
menian life and culture for millennia;
Whereas, following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in
1991, the Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh es-
tablished a de facto independent republic, known as the
Republic of Artsakh, to exercise self-determination in
their homeland;
Whereas, on December 12, 2022, Azerbaijan initiated a
grueling blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh that deprived the
region’s population of food, medicine, fuel, and other ne-
cessities for nearly 10 months;
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•HRES 1327 IH
Whereas, on September 19, 2023, Azerbaijan launched a full-
scale military offensive against the Armenian population
of Nagorno-Karabakh that took the lives of hundreds of
soldiers and dozens of civilians;
Whereas Azerbaijan used the threat of further violence to co-
erce the Armenian leadership of Nagorno-Karabakh to
surrender their autonomy and dissolve their governing in-
stitutions;
Whereas over 100,000 Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh, fac-
ing the threat of further ethnic violence, fled the territory
as refugees within 2 weeks of Azerbaijan’s assault;
Whereas the rhetoric of President Ilham Aliyev and other Az-
erbaijani officials demonstrates a clear ethnic animus mo-
tivating their anti-Armenian aggression;
Whereas international legal experts, including former Chief
Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court Luis
Moreno Ocampo and former United Nations genocide ex-
pert Juan Mendez, have determined that Azerbaijan’s
blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh violated the United Na-
tions Genocide Convention;
Whereas Azerbaijani forces have systemically destroyed Ar-
menian cultural heritage sites in Nagorno-Karabakh, in-
cluding churches, monasteries, cemeteries, and other cul-
tural monuments;
Whereas the United States Commission on International Reli-
gious Freedom recommends that Azerbaijan be des-
ignated as a country of particular concern, in part be-
cause of the destruction of Christian religious sites in
Nagorno-Karabakh;
Whereas, according to the Armenian Government, dozens of
Armenian prisoners of war, civilian captives, and mem-
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•HRES 1327 IH
bers of the political leadership of Nagorno-Karabakh are
now unjustly imprisoned in Azerbaijan on politically mo-
tivated charges or no charges at all;
Whereas the political leaders of Nagorno-Karabakh now im-
prisoned by Azerbaijan include Davit Manukyan, Davit
Babayan, Levon Mnatsakanyan, Arkadi Ghukasyan,
Bako Sahakyan, Arayik Harutyunyan, Davit Ishkhanyan,
and Ruben Vardanyan;
Whereas the true number of Armenians held captive by Azer-
baijan is likely higher than the Armenian Government’s
count given the many individuals who are still missing
and the lack of transparency surrounding Azerbaijan’s
detention practices;
Whereas Azerbaijan has a well-documented record of sub-
jecting Armenian prisoners to torture, humiliation, and
other violations of fundamental rights afforded by the
Geneva Conventions;
Whereas, as a result of Azerbaijan’s ethnic cleansing cam-
paign, over 100,000 displaced persons from Nagorno-
Karabakh now seek refuge in Armenia where they face
difficulties accessing housing, food security, employment,
and health care;
Whereas the United States has provided a vastly insufficient
amount of humanitarian aid to respond to the refugee
crisis in Armenia;
Whereas international law provides for a right of return for
populations displaced from their country of origin, includ-
ing under the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human
Rights, the 1966 Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,
the Fourth Geneva Convention, and the European Con-
vention on Human Rights to which Azerbaijan is a party;
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•HRES 1327 IH
Whereas the International Court of Justice issued a binding
provisional measure in November 2023 requiring Azer-
baijan to provide for the safe, unimpeded, and expedi-
tious return of Armenian refugees who wish to return to
their homes in Nagorno-Karabakh;
Whereas, prior to the Azerbaijani assault on Nagorno-
Karabakh, Acting As