On grim anniversary, CSI, the World Evangelical Alliance, and the European Centre for Law and Justice stand up for the forcibly displaced Armenians at UN Human Rights Council.
The UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. csi
GENEVA – Today at the UN Human Rights Council, Christian Solidarity International (CSI), the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA), and the European Centre for Law and Justice (ECLJ) called on the international community to help the forcibly displaced Armenians of Artsakh/Nagorno Karabakh return to their homeland.
“This month marks three years since Azerbaijan conquered Nagorno Karabakh and emptied it of its entire Armenian Christian population,” Joel Veldkamp, CSI’s UN representative, told the Council.
“To this day, Azerbaijan continues to block all 150,000 displaced Armenians from returning to their homes, in defiance of the International Court of Justice order of November 17, 2023,” he said.
On September 19, 2023, the armed forces of Azerbaijan launched an invasion of the independent Republic of Artsakh/Nagorno Karabakh, after blockading the territory for nine months. Within eleven days, virtually the entire Armenian population of the region fled to neighboring Armenia to escape the Azerbaijani attack. The last eleven Armenians in Nagorno Karabakh were deported to Armenia in January 2026.
Veldkamp recalled the 20 Armenian hostages still held by Azerbaijan, as well as Azerbaijan’s demolition of Armenian churches, villages, and cemeteries, including a cemetery with 12th and 13th-century Armenian monuments, whose destruction was reported on September 4.
He also drew attention to the recent tour of Nagorno Karabakh’s ethnically-cleansed cities organized by the Azerbaijani government, in which 150 diplomats took part, and in which Hikmet Hajiyev, a senior adviser to Azerbaijan’s president Ilham Aliyev, falsely portrayed medieval Armenian churches as being “Caucasian Albanian” and denied the ancient Armenian presence in the region.
“Peace in the South Caucasus cannot be built on ethnic cleansing, politically motivated unlawful detention, and cultural destruction,” the NGOs told the Council.
The groups called on the Human Rights Council “to take meaningful measures to ensure the safe return of the Armenians of Nagorno Karabakh to their homeland, with guarantees for the full enjoyment of their human rights.”
“One practical way to do this,” Veldkamp told the Council, “would be by supporting the peace forum for Nagorno Karabakh mandated by the Swiss parliament.”
In March 2025, the Swiss parliament mandated the Swiss government to organize a peace forum between Azerbaijan and the representatives of the Armenians of Nagorno Karabakh. Despite this binding mandate, the Swiss Foreign Ministry has refused even to make contact with the representatives of the displaced Armenians.
“There appears to be a consensus in the international community – particularly between the United States, Russia, and the European Union – to pretend that the ethnic cleansing of Nagorno Karabakh never happened,” commented Veldkamp after the session. “They believe that if they reward Azerbaijan’s aggression, Azerbaijan will be a trustworthy partner to advance their security, energy and commercial interests. In addition to being deeply immoral, we feel this reliance on an ultranationalist dictatorship which continues to threaten its neighbor, Armenia, is deeply unwise.”
“Christian Solidarity International stands in solidarity with the displaced Armenian Christians of Nagorno Karabakh,” Veldkamp concluded. “We will continue to campaign for their right of return, their right to self-determination, freedom for their hostages, and protection for their heritage sites.”
Christian Solidarity International (CSI) is an interconfessional Christian human rights group, campaigning for religious liberty and human dignity, and assisting victims of religious persecution, victimized children, and victims of catastrophe.
CSI is an NGO with consultative status at the United Nations Economic and Social Council.
Christian Solidarity International was founded in Switzerland in 1977 by Rev. Hans Stückelberger and is active in more than 20 countries with public advocacy initiatives and humanitarian aid projects.
Contact: Patrick Degenhardt | [email protected]
Media contact: Dr. Joel Veldkamp | [email protected]
