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Azerbaijan delegation attended high level meeting of UN in Geneva
On December 16, next 8th high level meeting of Dialogue on Protection Challenges of United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees on “Understanding and addressing root causes of displacement” was launched in Geneva, Switzerland.
Azerbaijan is represented by the delegation led by Deputy Prime Minister, Chairman of the State Committee for the Refugees and IDPs Affairs Ali Hasanov, as well as by Chief of State Migration Service, II rank state migration service counselor Firudin Nabiyev at the event.
UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterresopening the event stated that as a result of conflicts and violence in the modern world the number of people forced to leave their home country is increasing constantly and this situation poses new challenges before world countries, international organization and civil society. He noted that the number of refugees and IDPs reached the peak after World War II and according to the statistics as of the end of 2014 the number of refugees and IDPs around the worldis close to 60 million. People are forced to leavetheir countries on the one hand as a result of uncontrollable conflicts and wars, on the other hand by natural disasters. Already third generation of children is born in refugee camps in several crisis regions. More than half of the refugees worldwide have been in exile at least for 5 years and millions of people have been displacedfor decades. Against this backdrop, maintaining regular dialogue among international organizations, states, civil society, and relevant humanitarian and academic partners is of great importance in order to better understand the root causes of displacement and to address them more effectively.
Later on short film dedicated to the conditions of refugees was demonstrated.
At the plenary session representatives of international organizations and different states delivered speeches on possible solutions of refugee problem, improvement of living conditions of refugees, their access to medical and social services in the countries they settled, involvement of children to social environment and school life.
At the beginning of discussions the floor was given to Ali Hasanov, head of Azerbaijani delegation, Deputy Prime Minister, Chairman of the State Committee for the Refugees and IDPs Affairs to deliver the first speech.
Deputy Prime Minister Ali Hasanov expressed his gratitude to the High Commissioner Antonio Guterres for his initiative on dedicating the distinguished event held today to discussion of a quite important issue and inviting also Azerbaijan to this event. .
Ali Hasanov told that the emergencies taking place in various regions of the world in recent years concern us as well. The unprecedented massive migration, the endless suffering of the innocent people made up mostly of women and children en route, the terrifying events that keep deepening and drive humanity to a new tragedy – it is not difficult to imagine what is awaiting us ahead, if these events are not prevented.
Further strengthening of cooperation between the states, as well as the respectable international organizations, such as the UNHCR, International Organization for Migration, International Committee of Red Cross and the relevant UN agencies for the settlement of the problems of vulnerable people suffering from conflicts is today both necessary and urgent.
We believe there is a need for improvement of the existing international law concerning the protection of the people forced to leave their permanent residences. Today, we must emphasize the fact that the time has come to consider the development of a legally binding document on the basis of the rules and norms reflected in the UN Guiding Principles on IDPs. .
Deputy Prime Minister mentioned that the military aggression of Armenia against Azerbaijan and occupation of 20 percent of our lands have caused forced displacement of people from their native lands. This issue has not found its solution for more than 25 years. As a result of the ethnic cleansing policy in Armenia and occupation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions of Azerbaijan by Armenia the number of refugees and IDPs in our country is over one million and two hundred thousand. With a population of 9.7 million, Azerbaijan is among the world’s countries with the highest IDP burden per capita. .
The four unfulfilled UN Security Council resolutions adopted in 1993, as well as the decisions of other respectable international organizations related to the conflict, causes misunderstanding.
Armenia violates the generally accepted norms and principles of international law, changes the physical, demographic and cultural names of the occupied territories, rejects the rights of forcibly displaced Azerbaijanis to return to their native lands and continues its efforts aimed at the strengthening of the present status-quo..
The Armenian Government also abuses the world’s current migration problem and settles the Syrian refugees of Armenian origin in the occupied Azerbaijani territories. .
Ali Hasanov stated that Azerbaijani Government has undertaken most of the problems of the displaced people who forcibly left their native lands. In the past 20 years, over 6 billion USD have been spent on the social problems of the refugees and IDPs of Azerbaijan and 250 thousand refugees and IDPs have been relocated to 93 newly established modern settlements for temporary residence. The poverty level among people of this particular category has decreased from 75% to 12%. Our achievements in the solution of IDP problems have been positively assessed by reputable international organizations and states.
Despite the great efforts of the Azerbaijani Government, over 400 000 IDPs continue to live in old and unfit public buildings under difficult circumstances up to date. Due to the scale and persisting nature of the country’s IDP problem, there is a need for the support of international organizations and donors...
Full restoration of the IDPs human rights requires the settlement of the conflict based on international legal norms, in particular sovereignty of states, territorial integrity and the inviolability of internationally recognized borders. Azerbaijan’s position in this regard is quite clear: all Azerbaijani territories must be liberated from occupation and the rights of IDPs to return to their lands in safety and dignity must be ensured. We are hopeful that after the Peace Agreement is achieved, Azerbaijani and Armenian nations will continue to live in the confident neighbourhood as they did before.
Deputy Prime Minister said: “Taking this opportunity, I would like to express view of the Azerbaijani Government and myself on High Commissioner Mr. Antonio Guterres’s achievements during his 10-year activity. I would like to point out that Mr. Guterres has approached the existing problems sensitivelyand in a professional manner. Despite the high growth in the number of refugees and IDPs during his term, Mr. Guterres has fulfilled his duties as a High Commissioner in a very capable and decent manner. The primary attention and care for the IDPs problem emerged exactly during Mr. Guterres’ term. On behalf of the Azerbaijani Government and myself I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Mr. Guterres for all these efforts and wish him success in his life and future activities.
It should be mentioned that the goal of the Dialogue, which was established in 2007, is to organize discussions of United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, states and other stakeholdersrelated withglobal protection issues. The outcomes of plenary sessions, breakout discussions and side events are summarized by the High Commissioner and presented as recommendations for follow-up action.
The High level meeting ended on December 17.
The delegation held meetings with heads of a number of international organizations – President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Peter Maurer, Director General of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) William Lacy Swing in the headquarters of the organization in Geneva, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres - in the framework of the visit.
