Global coalition backs Artsakh Armenians’ right to return home

A broad-based global coalition of faith-based and civil society organizations are endorsing a public call to establish an international negotiating platform to facilitate, under an international mandate, “the universally recognized right of indigenous Artsakh Armenian refugees to a collective, protected, and dignified return home”, the ANCA reported.

The joint statement calls for “an international negotiating platform for Artsakh, Azerbaijan, and other regional and global stakeholders to realize, under an international mandate, the universally recognized right of indigenous Artsakh Armenian refugees to a collective, protected, and dignified return home.”

As a result of Azerbaijan’s 2023 genocide of Artsakh, over 150,000 indigenous Armenians have been forcibly displaced from their ancestral homeland of thousands of years. Azerbaijan’s ethnic cleansing followed a ten-month blockade that deprived the region’s Armenian population of food, medicine, fuel, electricity, and other essentials in brazen defiance of international law.

The ‘right of return’ is a universally acknowledged principle of international law that guarantees the right of every person to voluntarily return to their country of origin – regardless of citizenship or status. The right is established in several treaties and conventions, including the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the 1966 Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the 1948 Fourth Geneva Convention.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) recognized the right of Armenians to return to Artsakh in a legally binding order for provisional measures following the ethnic cleansing of Artsakh, calling on Azerbaijan to “ensure that persons who have left Nagorno-Karabakh after 19 September 2023 and who wish to return to Nagorno-Karabakh are able to do so in a safe, unimpeded and expeditious manner.”

The ANCA policy brief on Artsakh’s Right of Return can be found at anca.org/return.

A survey of international governments, organizations, and human rights groups who have affirmed the Artsakh people’s right of return can be found in the ANC-International’s “Legal Basis of the Right of Return: Recent Positions on the Right of Return of Artsakh Citizens.”

On December 2, 2023, the Artsakh Parliament established the Committee for the Defense of the Fundamental Rights of the People of Artsakh to advocate for the safe, dignified, and collective return of the people of Artsakh. This Committee is among the signatories to the joint statement, which, as of November 27, 2024, includes:

A Demand for Action
Ambassador Sam Brownback
American Friends of Kurdistan
Anglican Office for Government and International Affairs
Armenian Bar Association
Armenian Catholic Eparchy
Armenian Church Youth Organization of America
Armenian Council of America
Armenian Democratic Liberal Party
Armenian Evangelical Union of North America
Armenian General Benevolent Union
Armenian Legal Center for Justice and Human Rights
Armenian National Committee of America
Armenian Relief Society
Armenian Revolutionary Federation
Armenian Youth Federation
Artsakh Union
Christian Solidarity International
Committee for the Defense of the Fundamental Rights of the Artsakh People
Coptic Solidarity
Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church – Eastern U.S
Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church – Western U.S
European Armenian Federation for Justice and Democracy
Foro Artsaj de la Republica Uruguay
Foro Artsaj de la Republica Argentina
Global Christian Relief
Hamazkayin Armenian Cultural Association
Hellenic American Leadership Council
Hindu American Foundation
Homenetmen Armenian General Athletic Union
Humanitarian Aid Relief Trust – HART
In Defense of Christians
International Christian Concern
Knights of Vartan
Nasarean.org
Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic Church – Eastern U.S
Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic Church – Western U.S
Rev. Joel Tenney
Save Armenia
Shai Fund
Social Hunchakian Democratic Party
Tekeyan Cultural Association
Zovighian Public Office