UN Special Rapporteur: Azerbaijan plans to remove all physical indications of presence of Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh

The Armenian Embassy to Switzerland, which is also the Permanent Mission to the UN Office in Geneva, issued a statement by the UN Special Rapporteur on Cultural Rights regarding culturally and religiously significant sites and objects in Nagorno-Karabakh.

In the communication addressed to Azerbaijan, the UN Special Rapporteur on Cultural Rights expressed concern about the “ongoing pattern of destruction and appropriation of Armenian historically, culturally and religiously significant sites and objects, of organized reinterpretation of history of Nagorno-Karabakh to erase traces of the presence of Armenians and of discriminatory narrative against and harassment of Armenians in the region, in violation of international human rights standards and of international humanitarian law.”

“I am particularly concerned about the allegations that the combined attacks to people, monuments and symbols, the falsification of the historical narrative and erasure of place names and the negative discourses about Armenians may amount to cultural cleansing,” the UN Special Rapporteur said.