TODAY Christian Solidarity International (CSI) joined with the Save Karabakh Coalition calling on Ignazio Cassis, the head of the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, to use Switzerland’s presidency of the United Nations (UN) Security Council to help the besieged people of Nagorno Karabakh.
Since December 12, 2023, this region, home to an ancient community of 120,000 Armenian Christians, has been under siege by Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan has blocked off the region from all air or land transport and cut its electricity and gas lines. Azerbaijani snipers regularly attack Armenian farmers trying to grow food locally.
Food, fuel, and medical supplies in Nagorno Karabakh have dwindled to dangerous lows because of the blockade, and many prominent observers have warned that a humanitarian crisis is imminent. A few months ago, CSI, along with other humanitarian organizations, issued a collective Genocide Warning for Nagorno Karabakh, due to Azerbaijan’s blockade and the exterminationist rhetoric directed at Armenian Christians by Azerbaijan’s leaders.
John Eibner, President of CSI said: “If the Biden administration continues to backtrack on the United States’ solemn commitment to this Armenian Christian community’s right to self-determination, we can expect to witness another chapter of Armenian Genocide — one committed by a military and economic partner of the United States. Washington must now give Switzerland the backing it needs to mediate a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate end to Azerbaijan’s inhumane blockade. The lives and futures of 120,000 Armenian Christians are at stake. So too is the United States’ standing as a champion of religious freedom, fundamental human rights and genocide prevention in the face of unprovoked military and economic aggression.”
In an open letter to Cassis, the Save Karabakh Coalition called on him to “use the few weeks remaining in [his] Presidency of the UN Security Council to guide through a resolution” to “protect the vulnerable Armenians of Nagorno Karabakh” and recognize their right to self-determination.
In February, the Coalition’s letter noted, the Foreign Affairs Committee of Switzerland’s Council of States adopted a resolution calling on Switzerland to work at the UN Security Council for a resolution that would force an end to the blockade and provide for an international humanitarian airlift to Nagorno Karabakh.
The Coalition urged Cassis to use the Foreign Affairs Committee’s resolution as a “policy framework” for action at the UN Security Council.
Switzerland was elected as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council for the first time in 2023. It holds the presidency of the council for the month of May.
The Save Karabakh Coalition was launched in January in response to Azerbaijan’s deadly blockade of the Nagorno Karabakh.
