Petition translation - French - German

To: António Guterres - United Nations Secretary-General, Simon Stiell of Grenada - Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Ursula von der Leyen - President of the European Commission, Charles Michel - President of the European Council - Josep Borrell - High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy – Roberta  Metzola, President of the European Parliament - Olaf Scholz - Chancellor of Germany, Emmanuel Macron - President of France, Giorgia Meloni – Prime Minister of Italy, Pedro Sánchez – Prime Minister of Spain, Keir Starmer - Prime Minister of UK and NI, Joe Biden - President of USA, Justin Trudeau – Prime Minister of Canada

 

Why stand up and act against the use of COP29 by Azerbaijan genocidal petro-dictatorship (*) as a greenwashing tool and urge it to release the 23 Armenian prisoners and to prevent human rights infringements ?

o    because “who comes into equity must come with clean hands”, and this is reflected in the very poor record in human rights, freedom of expression, anti-corruption actions [1], genocidal actions against Armenians, ethnic cleansing, embargo and food shortage imposed upon Armenians of Nagorno Karabakh during more than 10 months.

o    because in addition, as stated by Transparency International [2], this state presenting a major conflict of interest, being a large fossil fuel producer, and most likely distributing Russian gas to EU which would circumvent sanctions [3], the risk is very high that COP29 could be counterproductive and lead to undermining and discrediting COP’s effective actions for the climate: “Azerbaijan was one of the worst performers of its region in the 2022 Corruption Perception Index due to widespread corruption in the country, crackdowns on rival politicians and the limiting of civic activism. This raises concerns about whose interests will be visible and heard and whether their primary goal is to move away from fossil fuels. To restore trust in the process and ensure good outcomes for the planet and its people, the global community must invest in integrity measures and ensure transparency in all emerging climate action approaches. This is an opportunity we must take – before it’s too late."

Why it's time to act ?

Between June 3 and 13, 2024 in Bonn (Germany) Parties, with 6,000+ participating stakeholders, meet and prepare the UN Climate Change Conference COP29 that will take place in Azerbaijan in November 2024.

As peaceful citizens concerned about human rights and principles of justice, stand up and act now against the use of COP29 by Azerbaijan genocidal petro-dictatorship as a greenwashing tool and thus urge the COP stakeholders, leaders and participants to press:

o    for the release of the 23 Armenian prisoners, some of whom have been held for over 1,300 days

o    the President Ilham Aliyev to recognize his crime of genocide

o    to prevent and sanction any further human rights infringements

o    to respect the right of return and existence in Nagorno Karabakh for the native Armenian population

o    to stop cultural genocide of Armenian heritage of more than 6000 monuments in occupied Nagorno Karabakh

1/ Sign this petition

2/ Follow the LIBERTAS collective mobilization for the liberation of Armenian prisoners and hostages detained in Azerbaijan:

Site: www.libertas2020.com   X: https://twitter.com/FreeArmenianPOW  

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61550878628558

Instagram: @libertas2020_  Contact us: contactlibertas2020@gmail.com

 

(*) Azerbaijan is a genocidal petro-dictatorship with a disastrous human rights and democracy record:

o    Armenian genocide in Nagorno-Karabagh in 2020-2023 (with nine-month hunger blockade and expulsion [4] [5] ) that led to the complete ethnic cleansing of its remaining 120,000-strong native population including 30,000 children [6] [7] [8] [9] [10]

o    23 Armenian civilians, soldiers and political leaders, tortured and subjected to inhuman treatment [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] held after the end of hostilities, therefore illegally under UN human rights legislation, the Geneva Convention on Prisoners of War and the European Convention on Human Rights [17] [18]

o    Hundreds of prisoners of war and civilian captives forcibly disappeared by the Azerbaijani armed forces since 2020-2023.

o    Widespread armenophobia and racist discrimination from the highest level of the State to all the spheres of public life [19] [20]

o    Massive infringement of the Geneva convention on war crimes

o    Willfully destroying historical cultural heritage such as churches, monasteries, the Parliament building, architectural landmarks, rewriting history with the objective of eliminating all religious and ethnic traces, illegal expropriation of homes

o     Hundreds of political prisoners in jail

o     Failure to honor "major commitments" of the basic principles of democracy [21] [22] (free and fair elections, separation of powers, independence of the judiciary power, corruption perception index,...) led the PACE (Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe), on January 2024, to decide not to ratify the credentials of Azerbaijan delegation [23] [24]

[1] https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/E-8-2017-005874_EN.html

[2] https://www.transparency.org/en/blog/cop29-alarming-conflict-of-interest-climate-corruption

[3] https://www.eiu.com/n/azerbaijans-gas-exports-to-the-eu-face-challenges/

[4] https://www.cftjustice.org/the-planning-inciting-ordering-instigating-and-implementing-of-genocide-by-president-ilham-aliyev-and-other-high-ranking-officials/

[5] https://www.politico.eu/article/icc-armenian-genocide-nagorno-karabakh-azerbaijan-ilham-aliyev/

[6] https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/TA-9-2023-0356_EN.html

[7] https://www.europeansforartsakh.eu/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/dp-EFA-Bruxelles-28-01-24_Final_en.pdf

[8] https://www.amnesty.org/en/location/europe-&-central-asia/eastern-europe-&-central-asia/azerbaijan/report-azerbaijan/

[9] https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2024/country-chapters/azerbaijan

[10] https://www.state.gov/reports/2023-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/azerbaijan/

[11]https://www.ombuds.am/images/files/1138b156720bec6ae0fd88dc709eb62c.pdf

[12] https://emerging-europe.com/news/fears-grow-for-fate-of-armenian-pows-held-by-azerbaijan/

[13] https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/12/02/azerbaijan-armenian-prisoners-war-badly-mistreated

[14] https://www.cftjustice.org/catalogue-of-open-source-digital-evidence-icj-violations-by-azerbaijan/

[15] https://www.cftjustice.org/first-expert-opinion-on-azerbaijani-state-policy-of-armenophobia-within-their-schools/

[16] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_Trophy_Park_(Baku)

[17] https://freedomhouse.org/country/azerbaijan/freedom-world/2024

[18] https://www.transparency.org/en/countries/azerbaijan

[19] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/10/human-rights-groups-detail-war-crimes-in-nagorno-karabakh

[20] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-54645254

[21] https://www.un.org/en/genocideprevention/documents/atrocity-crimes/Doc.32_GC-III-EN.pdf

[22] http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/64384

[23] https://www.coe.int/en/web/portal/-/pace-resolves-not-to-ratify-the-credentials-of-azerbaijan-s-parliamentary-delegation-citing-a-failure-to-fulfil-major-commitments

[24] https://www.esiweb.org/publications/guide-crime-scene-azerbaijan-and-council-europe-state-repression-and-those-who-fight