International fact-finding mission accuses Azerbaijan of ethnically cleansing Artsakh

Freedom House and six other human rights groups have issued a report, presenting the findings of a joint fact-finding mission launched after the ethnic cleansing of Armenians in Artsakh in 2023.

The report’s release comes as Baku hosts the 29th Conference of the Parties (COP29), the annual UN forum on climate change.

The report has found multiple cases of gross human rights violations, breaches of international humanitarian law, and violations of international criminal law by Azerbaijani authorities against ethnic Armenians in Artsakh, through extrajudicial killings, a monthslong blockade, forced displacement, and postdisplacement policies of cultural erasure and property destruction.

The authors of the report call on democratic countries to support international efforts to prosecute crimes against humanity and war crimes committed against the population of Artsakh, including by making a state referral to the International Criminal Court (ICC). Implement targeted sanctions, such as travel bans and asset freezes, against Azerbaijani officials, military leaders, and individuals implicated in gross human rights violations and war crimes.