Firudin Nabiyev: Azerbaijan’s state care to refugees and IDPs by can be used as a model in other countries

On October 3 67th session of the UN High Commissionaire Executive Committee was launched in Geneva.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, as well as High Commissionaire for Refugees of the organization Filippo Grandi delivered opening speeches in the session.

Ban Ki-moon stating that for ten years during which he was UN Secretary General the number of refugees doubled and reached 65 million across the world, brought to the attention that this crisis was not the crisis of statistical figures but a humanitarian crisis which threatens human lives.

Speakers called on world countries to put aside the national interests of their countries and to take resolute and global measures against refugee crisis which is aggravating gradually. Later on meeting of the high segment was launched.

Head of Azerbaijani delegation, Chief of State Migration Service, II rank state migration service counselor Firudin Nabiyev delivered speech in the session.          

Recalling the “New York Declaration on Refugees and Migrants” adopted in the frame of UN General Assembly meeting in New York on September 19, F. Nabiyev stated that Azerbaijan welcomes this declaration as a fundamental step towards international cooperation and officially appreciates the UNHCR's role as a catalyst for the process to create conditions for a global and effective response against the problem of forced displacement and the formal inclusion of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to the UN family as part of that event.

Service Chief mentioned that strong cooperation between the Government of Azerbaijan and UNHCR remains firm and productive and strictly support the mandate and activities of UNHCR. Asylum and migration problems can be solved effectively only through international cooperation. Recently, we have witnessed it.

He stated that despite the scale of the problem of refugees and internally displaced persons in our country, the Government of Azerbaijan is interested in providing timely assistance to the people affected by humanitarian disasters in the world directly or through international organizations. The national donor institution of Azerbaijan, the International Development Agency (AIDA) is responsible for the implementation of projects on humanitarian aid around the world. The agency is providing humanitarian assistance to the people belonging to vulnerable groups, as well as developing the capacity building programs in the areas of health, education, energy, information and communication technologies. The aim is to achieve the goals set out in the 2030 UN Sustainable Development Agenda in such affected countries.

Chief of State Migration Service in his speech mentioned with regret that in the aftermath of the last session the scope of migration has expanded rapidly for various reasons - the conflicts, wars, natural disasters and persecution in the world and as a result of this, the number of people who are forced to leave their countries and places of permanent residence has reached the highest level in the world.

We are well aware of the plight of these people, because Azerbaijan is also a country that has faced an occupation.

Unresolved conflicts continue creating a new influx of refugees and maintain a state of constant uncertainty for millions of women, men and children who want to return home. Most of the time, in the receiving countries, instead of compassion, tolerance, the discrimination and xenophobia are demonstrated to the refugees and migrants who escape from death and torture. This, of course, makes their already difficult situation even more difficult.

As regards refugee and migrant influx as a result of unresolved conflicts F.Nabiyev stated that Azerbaijani side understands situation of these people well, as Azerbaijan is  a country which was subject to occupation. At the beginning of the 1990s, the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, ethnic cleansing in Armenia and occupation of 20% of Azerbaijan's territory, led to the displacement people from their homes and this conflict has not been resolved yet. As a result of this occupation, the settlements, infrastructure, historical and cultural monuments, in a word, everything is destroyed, a large damage, according to estimates more than $ 500 billion, has been caused to the national economy, the people have lost everything. Of course, the biggest loss is our 30 thousand citizens having lost their lives in the war.

Touching upon situation of refugees and IDPs in the country F.Nabiyev stated that with 10 million population, a young and small state of Azerbaijan has been solving the problems of refugees, internally displaced people, whose number has grown up to more than one million two hundred thousand due to the natural growth, while respecting the international laws, fulfilling its obligations properly for more than 20 years. It was mentioned that relevant measures are taken in order to improve the living conditions of this group of people. 95 residential complexes have been built according to modern standards, 50 thousand families of more than 250 thousand refugees and internally displaced persons have been provided with new apartments at the expense of the State Oil Fund. Until now, about 6 billion US dollars has been spent for the solution of their social problems.

It was brought to the attention of event participants that the national legislation of the country has been fully adapted to the already signed international treaties on refugees and internally displaced persons, and even in some cases, it is more completely adapted to define superior rights. As noted repeatedly by the heads of a number of influential international organizations, the state care for the people of this contingency and the experience of Azerbaijan in managing this problem from a single center can be used as a model in other countries.

Mentioning that however, a large portion of these people live in hard conditions even today representative of Azerbaijan emphasized that international organizations and donors should not detract attention from the issue and continue to support our country.

Later it was underlined that first of all, in order to solve the problems existing in this field in the world, the political interests should be put aside, serious ground should be established to avoid new conflicts and concrete steps should be taken. The resolution of existing conflicts should be based on the principles of the international law, in particular the sovereignty, territorial integrity and inviolability of internationally recognized borders. The states should cooperate with each other and international organizations including such international organizations as the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, the International Organization for Migration, the International Committee of the Red Cross more closely in order to solve the problems of vulnerable people.

The Azerbaijani side has repeatedly stressed that it is necessary to adopt an international convention on the protection of the rights of internally displaced persons having the legal obligations similar to the Convention adopted within the framework of the African Union.

It was noted that it is regretful that some countries abuse the refugee and migration problems in the world for their own political interests. Armenia, which states in the international tribunes that it has received a large number of Syrian refugees, deploys the refugees from their own country as well as other countries, particularly those from Syria in the occupied Azerbaijani territories contrary to the requirements of the Geneva Convention of 1949 and continues changing the historical names of Azerbaijani lands. Two such incidents have been witnessed during the visit of the OSCE Fact-Finding Mission to the region.

Armenia does not observe the ceasefire today, regularly opens a fire at civilians, residential areas. Although more that 20 years have passed, the conflict is not solved, the historic injustice continues, the execution of the decisions and resolutions of UN, OSCE, Council of Europe, OIC and other influential international organizations regarding the problem remain unfulfilled, the activity of the OSCE Minsk Group does not yield any result.

It was specially mentioned the problem faced by Azerbaijan is not the problem of the region only but the one for the whole world. Azerbaijan's position in Armenia - Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is clear, logical and right: all the Azerbaijani territories should be released from the Armenian occupation and the right of IDPs to return to their homes with dignity should be guaranteed.

On the same day presentation ceremony was held for “Nansen Refugee Award” which was established for persons and organizations providing assistance to refugees in various regions of the world. 2016 UNHCR “Nansen” award was presented to “Hellenic Recue Team” NGO which functions in Lesbos island of Greece and combines volunteers around it.

67th session of UNHCR Executive Committee will end on October 7.