Nagorno Karabakh Foreign Minister Karen Mirzoyan on Wednesday, October 5 sent a letter to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein with regard to the latter's statement at the opening of the 33rd session of the UN Human Rights Council on September 13. The Commissioner said, in particular, that his “Office has had no access to the conflict situation in Karabakh, including after the events of April 2016.”

Pointing to the absence of any appeal for access to Karabakh from the Commissioner's Office, the Minister expressed regret that for more than two decades the Office had not been able to visit Karabakh, not even after the Azeri aggression this April.

“In our view, the OHCHR should be able to verify well-documented cases of massive and grave human rights violations and war crimes committed by the Azerbaijani Armed Forces both against Nagorno Karabakh's civilian population and its military personnel. We strongly believe that the international community has to react to these crimes in order to prevent their recurrence; otherwise, the impunity enjoyed by perpetrators would encourage further use of force by Azerbaijan against the people of Karabakh,” the letter read.

Assuring that Karabakh authorities are very open for a genuine cooperation with the OHCHR with a view of strengthening democratic norms and principles as well as protection of human rights in situations of conflict, the Minister invited the Commissioner to visit Karabakh or to dispatch a team in order to make an impartial and objective assessment of the human rights situation and the crimes perpetrated against the people of Nagorno Karabakh in April this year.