Azerbaijan has filed a counterclaim against Armenia with the International Court of Justice.
The Republic of Azerbaijan today instituted proceedings against the Republic of Armenia before the International Court of Justice, the principal judicial organ of the United Nations, concerning the interpretation and application of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD).
According to the Applicant, “Armenia has engaged and is continuing to engage in a series of discriminatory acts against Azerbaijanis on the basis of their ‘national or ethnic’ origin within the meaning of CERD”.
The Applicant claims that “through both direct and indirect means, Armenia continues its policy of ethnic cleansing”, and that it “incites hatred and ethnic violence against Azerbaijanis by engaging in hate speech and disseminating racist propaganda, including at the highest levels of its government.”
Referring to the period of hostilities that erupted in autumn 2020, Azerbaijan contends that “Armenia once again targeted Azerbaijanis for brutal treatment motivated by ethnic hatred”.
Azerbaijan further contends that “Armenia’s policies and conduct of ethnic cleansing, cultural erasure and fomenting of hatred against Azerbaijanis systematically infringe the rights and freedoms of Azerbaijanis, as well as Azerbaijan’s own rights, in violation of CERD”.
Azerbaijan thus requests the Court to indicate certain provisional measures “as a matter of urgency.”
Armenia flied an identical complaint n September 16, 2021.
