USCIRF urges independent monitoring in Artsakh

PanARMENIAN.Net - On June 5, 2025, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) held a virtual hearing titled "Religious Freedom Conditions in Azerbaijan," addressing the country's deteriorating religious freedoms and the destruction of Armenian cultural heritage in Artsakh.

USCIRF Chair Stephen Schneck emphasized that religious freedom in Azerbaijan is unlikely to improve without U.S. intervention. He urged Congress to prioritize religious freedom in its foreign policy, including linking military assistance to improvements in religious rights. Schneck also called for independent international monitoring missions in Nagorno-Karabakh without Azerbaijani accompaniment, to assess the condition of religious and cultural sites, according to religionnews.com.

Professor Audrey Altstadt from the University of Massachusetts Amherst described Azerbaijan as an authoritarian regime rooted in corruption, severely impacting human rights, including religious freedoms. Felix Corley, editor of Forum 18 News Service, reported that during the 2023 conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh, Armenian prisoners of war faced religiously motivated abuse, including the destruction of Christian symbols and denial of access to religious texts.

Independent journalist Arzu Geybulla advocated for the U.S. to designate Azerbaijan as a "Country of Particular Concern" under the International Religious Freedom Act, citing systemic violations.

Husik Ghulyan from Caucasus Heritage Watch highlighted the ongoing destruction of Armenian cultural sites in Nagorno-Karabakh. Satellite monitoring since 2021 has documented the complete destruction of 14 sites and damage to 14 others, with 30 more under immediate threat. Ghulyan noted that Azerbaijani authorities often rebrand Armenian churches as Caucasian Albanian heritage, erasing Armenian inscriptions and restricting access. He called for international monitoring missions without Azerbaijani oversight to ensure accurate assessments and preservation efforts.

USCIRF's 2025 Annual Report recommends maintaining Azerbaijan on the U.S. State Department's Special Watch List for severe religious freedom violations. It also suggests imposing targeted sanctions on Azerbaijani officials responsible for these violations and facilitating independent assessments of cultural and religious heritage sites in Nagorno-Karabakh.