The Diplomat
The Club de Madrid urges the Azerbaijani authorities to lift the blockade of the Lachin corridor and allow humanitarian access to the region of the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave where 120,000 Armenians live.
The Lachin corridor has been blocked for months by Azerbaijan, causing severe shortages of food, medicine, hygiene products and fuel in the separatist region.
The Club de Madrid, which brings together more than a hundred former heads of state and government, has issued a note expressing its “deep concern” over the “critical humanitarian situation” in Nagorno-Karabakh, a disputed territory between Azerbaijan and Armenia.
The organisation calls on the authorities in Baku to “adhere to the commitments of the November 2020 ceasefire agreements, lift the blockade that is causing severe shortages of food, medicine and fuel in Nagorno-Karabakh, and restore the unrestricted and safe movement of people, vehicles and goods in both directions through the Lachin corridor”.
Noting that “humanitarian aid should never be politicised”, the Club de Madrid expresses its full support for efforts to promote peaceful and normalised relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan, and states: “Multilateralism and dialogue are the most effective means to resolve conflicts. The international community must continue to engage with them in the search for sustainable peace in the region”.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has been calling for more than a year for Azerbaijan and Armenia to reach a “humanitarian consensus” to allow the resumption of humanitarian convoys through the corridor.
The Azerbaijani authorities announced on 11 July the “temporary” suspension of traffic through a “border crossing point” set up in April in the Lachin corridor – amid criticism from Armenia – after allegations of “smuggling” of mobile phones, chargers, cigarettes and other materials into ICRC vehicles. The ICRC claims that “no unauthorised material has been found in any ICRC-owned vehicle”.
