Azerbaijan has reportedly ordered the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the only organization with access to the Armenians being illegally detained there, to leave the country. Human rights activists warn that the move leaves the detainees even more exposed to ill treatment. They are calling on the international community to act.
Red Cross vehicles transport patients to Armenia for medical treatment during the blockade of Nagorno Karabakh. Artsakh Human Rights Ombudsman
The Azerbaijani government has told the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) that “they must leave” the country, according to a pro-government online news site. Caliber reported on March 2 that the Baku offices of these organizations had been notified that they would have to close.
The announcement came just after an ICRC delegation visited the Armenian detainees in Baku. Azerbaijan is confirmed to be holding 23 Armenians — political leaders of Nagorno Karabakh, civilians and prisoners of war — many of whom are currently standing trial. The regular ICRC visits enable an exchange of letters between the prisoners and their families and provide essential updates on the detainees’ condition.
Reacting to the news, Armenian human rights lawyer Siranush Sahakyan said the expulsion of the ICRC from Azerbaijan would have “far-reaching grave consequences for the treatment and well-being of Armenian hostages.”
“In the absence of the ICRC, no independent mechanism will remain to scrutinize their conditions of detention, nor to ensure adherence to fundamental human rights and humanitarian law,” Sahakyan said in a comment sent to CSI. “Stripped of international oversight, these individuals will be left entirely at the mercy of Azerbaijani authorities, exposing them to the very real dangers of indefinite detention, psychological and physical coercion, and the continued exploitation of hostages as instruments of political leverage.”
Sahakyan further warned of the effect on the families of the detainees: “The ICRC’s expulsion will sever a vital humanitarian lifeline—the channel of communication between detainees and their families. Deprived of any means to connect, detainees will endure heightened psychological distress, while their families will be plunged into an agonizing uncertainty.”
The human rights lawyer added that with the ICRC effectively barred from fulfilling its mandate, “The UN Special Rapporteur on Torture and the Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture must take urgent and decisive action to assume responsibilities, ensuring that detainees are afforded their basic rights and protections.”
Alternative arrangements needed to be made to ensure regular access to detainees, Sahakyan wrote. Given the absence of diplomatic relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan, a neutral third-party European state, such as Switzerland, could be asked to assume consular responsibilities and perform diplomatic functions on Armenia’s behalf.
“The international community cannot allow Azerbaijan’s actions to go unchallenged. Swift and decisive diplomatic intervention is not merely necessary, it is a legal and moral obligation,” she concluded.
Caliber said Baku had told the humanitarian organizations there was a need “to review the format of cooperation” with them given Azerbaijan’s “strong economy” and “changed role on the international stage.”
However, it also noted that Azerbaijan was critical of the activities of the Swiss-based ICRC in the region “especially during and after the Second Karabakh War” of 2020.
“The Azerbaijani side had serious suspicions of hostile, particularly espionage activities by the ICRC against the Azerbaijani Army during the 44-day war,” Caliber stated. It further alleged that “the ICRC operates under double standards, with anti-Turkish chauvinism, indulgence towards Armenian provocations, and complete indifference to the problems of Azerbaijanis”.
An August 2024 report by the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) provides a very different perspective. It accuses Azerbaijan of impeding the humanitarian work of the ICRC during the nine-month siege of Nagorno Karabakh that preceded Azerbaijan’s invasion in September 2023. “Tens of thousands of people were going hungry — but the International Red Cross faced growing obstacles as it tried to deliver help.”
Meanwhile, OC Media, a source of independent news from the Caucasus region, stressed the “crucial role” the ICRC played during the blockade in evacuating those in need of urgent medical treatment. Those evacuated included an elderly civilian, Vagif Khachatryan. During his medical evacuation by the Red Cross in July 2023, Azerbaijani border guards seized Khachatryan at the Lachin Corridor crossing. He is now serving a 15-year jail term for alleged genocide.
According to independent online media platform CivilNet, Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan has expressed concern over the health of the Armenian detainees in Azerbaijan. It reported that Mirzoyan raised his concerns at a meeting with ICRC President Mirjana Spoljaric Egger in Geneva on February 24.
One week later, a protest took place outside the headquarters of the ICRC in the Armenian capital, Yerevan, at which protestors called on the ICRC president to visit the Armenian captives in Baku in person, the Armenian-American news website Asbarez reported.
It said that in a letter to Spoljaric Egger, the protestors highlighted the case of detainee Ruben Vardanyan, who is reported to be in deteriorating health after beginning a hunger strike two weeks ago.
On March 4, a coalition of Armenian human rights organizations appealed for urgent action on behalf of the Armenian detainees.
In a joint letter to the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT), the signatories raised “grave concerns” over the prisoners’ mistreatment. Referring specifically to the case of Vardanyan, they said photos taken during his recent hearing showing bruising on his face were consistent with the “well-established practice of torture in Azerbaijani detention facilities.”
“We urgently request that the CPT visit detention and prison facilities in Baku to assess the treatment of detainees and prisoners of Armenian origin,” the letter concluded.
