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I really look forward to having answers from the Azerbaijani side for these alleged gross human rights violations: Secretary General (video)

Secretary General Ms Marija PEJČINOVIĆ BURIĆ  answered the questions during PACE sessions.

The first question came from Mr Ruben RUBINYAN from Armenia.

 

Mr Ruben RUBINYAN: Thank you Mr President. Madam Secretary General,

You know very well the consequences of the recent Azerbaijani aggression against Armenia which happened this September.

There are effective tools and mechanisms enshrined in the convention and the Statute to require the member states to fully abide by their commitments and obligations.

What prevents this organisation from undertaking targeted and effective steps to constrain aggressive behaviour of Azerbaijan, that results in grave human rights violations and sufferings of those who are under the protection of the European Convention of Human Rights?

Thank you.

 

Ms Marija PEJČINOVIĆ-BURIĆ: Thank you very much.

 

For the issue of Armenia and Azerbaijan, you know I made some statements at different stages of the conflicts and escalation that happened, but also our other bodies of the Council of Europe have reacted on different levels, at different situations, including the court with the interim measures, asking for prisoners of war to be exchanged.

The Commissioner of Human Rights has also clearly made some recommendations for what is from her point of view gross human rights violations, so I can only subscribe to what the Commissioner of Human Rights asked in this respect.

I think the humanitarian gestures should be very welcome for all prisoners. I welcome that recently there were some exchanges of prisoners that happened.

I would also welcome, and I will encourage high-level meetings. I think there were quite a few that were held recently. This is actually what we always ask of our member States, who at the time when they were joining were committing to resolving the issues that they had in a peaceful way.

Now for some of the information that recently came to my knowledge, reports of human rights violations, including allegations of ill treatment and extrajudicial killings, are certainly a source of great concern and must be investigated by competent authorities as required by the European Convention on Human Rights so that perpetrators can be brought to justice.

Because of the video footage that was brought to my attention, I asked the Azerbaijani side to provide information on how they were going to go about these alleged infringements of the gross human rights violations happening recently.

If I were not to get the answer to that, I think there would be another way to to address this issue. At this moment I really look forward to having answers from the Azerbaijani side for these alleged gross human rights violations.