Azerbaijan Ethnically Cleansed Armenians. It Should Pay a Price | Opinion (2024)

Last September, Azerbaijani forces attacked the self-governing enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh, and within days all 120,000 ethnic Armenians fled their ancestral homeland, most becoming refugees in neighboring Armenia. Azerbaijan called it a voluntary exodus; Armenians viewed it as a case of expulsion, which is a war crime.

The verdict is now in: a report presented by Freedom House, an independent watchdog organization dedicated to the expansion of democracy and exposing human rights abuses, described this tragedy as a planned act of ethnic cleansing. Orchestrated under the despotic regime of Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev, this tragedy is not merely a regional issue but a profound violation of human rights that demands global action. Azerbaijan should not get away with it.

There is a direct connection between odious regimes and odious actions. Aliyev, who has ruled Azerbaijan since 2003, has systematically dismantled democratic institutions and consolidated power at home, creating a regime characterized by corruption, repression, and human rights abuses. The Aliyev regime's stranglehold on Azerbaijan is maintained through a combination of electoral fraud, suppression of dissent, and control over the media. Independent voices are silenced, political opponents are jailed, and civil society is stifled, creating an environment where power is maintained through fear and intimidation.

Aliyev has also deployed another classic device of dictatorships: to distract the population's attention with manufactured crisis against invented foreign enemies. Thus, the regime has, especially since 2020, been constantly ratcheting up vitriolic rhetoric and aggressive action against Armenians.

The report, released last month, is based on satellite imagery, publicly available information and interviews with survivors of the events. It says "there are reasonable grounds to conclude that their forced displacement was intentional. The evidence suggests a coordinated, long-term plan aimed at ridding Nagorno-Karabakh of its ethnic Armenian population."

"This policy was achieved through regular actions that constitute gross violations of human rights, international humanitarian law, and international criminal law. In a gradual process and methodical manner, the Azerbaijani state-imposed conditions of life designed to either bring about the destruction of the Armenian population over time or render it impossible for them to stay and survive."

It describes abuses and killings that accompanied and drove the exodus, and notes that since then, "Baku continued erasing evidence of Armenian communities, culture, and heritage from Nagorno-Karabakh. ... The satellite imagery acquired by the fact-finding mission, as well as those shared by secondary sources, shows the destruction of Armenian cemeteries, churches, and residential areas." As one example, "the previously Armenian- populated Karin Tak village was razed to the ground."

It is important to note international complicity contributed to this. Azerbaijan blockaded the enclave in December 2022, causing the conditions of life there to rapidly deteriorate. In February 2023 the International Court of Justice in the Hague ordered Azerbaijan to end the blockade. Azerbaijan brazenly ignored the order. The only enforcement mechanism of the ICJ is the United Nations Security Council—but that body did nothing.

International legal experts led by Luis Moreno Ocampo, the former chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, declared the blockade a case of attempted genocide. The University Network for Human Rights, where I serve as Legal Director, briefed U.S. officials and published a report warning of impending ethnic cleansing. Again, beyond perfunctory statements the world community did nothing. Thus emboldened, Azerbaijan then attacked, safely assuming that the world would again look the other way—which is exactly what has occurred.

Not content with the suffering it has caused already, Azerbaijan is now threatening the sovereign territory of Armenia itself. Should this be met with silence as well, then the dictatorship will probably attack; it wishes to carve a land corridor to Turkey.

Instead, now that the facts are clear, the world community can begin redeeming itself by holding Azerbaijan to account. It would not only constitute justice but would be critical to avoid incentivizing bad-faith players in the world ecosystem from carrying out other atrocities.

Indeed, there have been numerous instances in which countries and leaders responsible for ethnic cleansing have faced punishment through international mechanisms.

The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) was established to prosecute serious crimes committed during the conflicts in the Balkans, and several Serbian figures were brought to justice, including Slobodan Milosevic, the former president of Serbia, and Ratko Mladic, former Bosnian Serb military leader, both convicted of genocide and other war crimes.

The Rwandan Genocide in 1994 resulted in the mass murder of the Tutsi population by the Hutu majority, and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) subsequently prosecuted those responsible, including Jean Kambanda, the former prime minister of Rwanda.

Similarly, the ICC issued arrest warrants for former Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, for crimes against humanity in Darfur (who is currently in custody in Sudan and has not yet been handed over to the ICC), top official Ahmed Haroun, who is still at large, and three other accomplices.

The international community similarly cannot afford to turn a blind eye to the ethnic cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh.

In addition to legal action against the perpetrators, one of the immediate steps that can be taken is the imposition of diplomatic sanctions. This includes freezing the assets of key figures within the Aliyev regime and imposing travel bans. That would send a strong signal that the international community condemns the actions of the Azerbaijani government and will not tolerate the violation of human rights.

Indeed, a first step is visible in the bipartisan H.R. 8141 - Azerbaijan Sanctions Review Act of 2024 bill, which proposes sanctions against Azerbaijani officials responsible for human rights violations, including the ethnic cleansing that took place in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Targeted sanctions on industries that are vital to Azerbaijan's economy, such as the oil and gas sector, can also exert significant pressure on the regime. Additionally, international businesses should be encouraged to divest from Azerbaijan to further isolate the country economically. That kind of action helped bring about the end of the apartheid in South Africa.

The world should also provide humanitarian aid and support to the displaced ethnic Armenians—including financial assistance, shelter, medical care, and support for resettlement.

Unfortunately, however, the international community continues to whitewash Aliyev's crimes. In the same year that Azerbaijan was designated one of the most repressive places on the planet and Nagorno-Karabakh, following Azerbaijan's takeover, the least free place in the entire world, Azerbaijan was chosen to host the annual global climate conference, COP29, this autumn. This is a disgrace.

While it may be too late to move the venue, invitees should boycott the conference or arrive and use the occasion to put the Azerbaijani leadership on notice that it is being watched.

Thomas Becker is the legal and policy director at the University Network for Human Rights. He has taught human rights at Harvard, Columbia, and Wesleyan Universities.

The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.