{"id":3013,"date":"2025-01-09T15:01:00","date_gmt":"2025-01-09T11:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/artsakhforum.net\/?p=3013"},"modified":"2025-01-21T05:35:00","modified_gmt":"2025-01-21T01:35:00","slug":"global-coalition-backs-right-of-artsakhs-armenian-refugees-to-return-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artsakhforum.net\/?p=3013","title":{"rendered":"Global Coalition Backs Right of Artsakh\u2019s Armenian Refugees to Return Home"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">9 January 2025 \u2013 Europeans for Artsakh, a civic initiative spanning more than 50 cities across Europe, joins the global coalition endorsing international talks toward \u201cthe universally recognized right of indigenous Artsakh Armenian refugees to a collective, protected, and dignified return home.\u201d<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">27 November 2024 \u2013 &#8212; Faith-Based and Civil Society Groups Call for an International Platform to Negotiate the Collective, Protected, and Dignified Return of Artsakh\u2019s Armenians<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>WASHINGTON, DC \u2013<\/strong>&nbsp;A broad-based global coalition of faith-based and civil society organizations are endorsing a public call to establish an international negotiating platform to facilitate, under an international mandate, \u201cthe universally recognized right of indigenous Artsakh Armenian refugees to a collective, protected, and dignified return home.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The joint statement calls for \u201can international negotiating platform for Artsakh, Azerbaijan, and other regional and global stakeholders to realize, under an international mandate, the universally recognized right of indigenous Artsakh Armenian refugees to a collective, protected, and dignified return home.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As a result of Azerbaijan\u2019s 2023 genocide of Artsakh, over 150,000 indigenous Armenians have been forcibly displaced from their ancestral homeland of thousands of years. Azerbaijan\u2019s ethnic cleansing followed a ten-month blockade that deprived the region\u2019s Armenian population of food, medicine, fuel, electricity, and other essentials in brazen defiance of international law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The \u2018right of return\u2019 is a universally acknowledged principle of international law that guarantees the right of every person to voluntarily return to their country of origin \u2013 regardless of citizenship or status. The right is established in several treaties and conventions, including the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the 1966 Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the 1948 Fourth Geneva Convention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The International Court of Justice (ICJ) recognized the right of Armenians to return to Artsakh in a legally binding order for provisional measures following the ethnic cleansing of Artsakh, calling on Azerbaijan to \u201censure that persons who have left Nagorno-Karabakh after 19 September 2023 and who wish to return to Nagorno-Karabakh are able to do so in a safe, unimpeded and expeditious manner.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The ANCA policy brief on Artsakh\u2019s Right of Return can be found at&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/anca.org\/return\/\"><strong>anca.org\/return<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A survey of international governments, organizations, and human rights groups who have affirmed the Artsakh people\u2019s right of return can be found in the ANC-International\u2019s \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ancnews.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/20241004-Right-to-Return-Study-Update-EN.pdf\"><strong>Legal Basis of the Right of Return: Recent Positions on the Right of Return of Artsakh Citizens.<\/strong><\/a>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On December 2, 2023, the Artsakh Parliament established the Committee for the Defense of the Fundamental Rights of the People of Artsakh to advocate for the safe, dignified, and collective return of the people of Artsakh. This Committee is among the signatories to the joint statement, which, as of November 27, 2024, includes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A Demand for Action<br>Ambassador Sam Brownback<br>American Friends of Kurdistan<br>Anglican Office for Government and International Affairs<br>Armenian Bar Association<br>Armenian Catholic Eparchy<br>Armenian Church Youth Organization of America<br>Armenian Council of America<br>Armenian Democratic Liberal Party<br>Armenian Evangelical Union of North America<br>Armenian General Benevolent Union<br>Armenian Legal Center for Justice and Human Rights<br>Armenian National Committee of America <br>Armenian National Committee \u2013 Middle East<br>Armenian Relief Society<br>Armenian Revolutionary Federation<br>Armenian Youth Federation<br>Artsakh Union<br>Christian Solidarity International<br>Committee for the Defense of the Fundamental Rights of the Artsakh People<br>Coptic Solidarity<br>Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church \u2013 Eastern U.S<br>Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church \u2013 Western U.S<br>European Armenian Federation for Justice and Democracy<br>Europeans for Artsakh<br>Foro Artsaj de la Republica Uruguay<br>Foro Artsaj de la Republica Argentina<br>Global Christian Relief<br>Hamazkayin Armenian Cultural Association<br>Hellenic American Leadership Council<br>Hindu American Foundation<br>Homenetmen Armenian General Athletic Union<br>Humanitarian Aid Relief Trust \u2013 HART<br>In Defense of Christians<br>International Christian Concern<br>Knights of Vartan<br>Nasarean.org<br>Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic Church \u2013 Eastern U.S<br>Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic Church \u2013 Western U.S<br>Rev. Joel Tenney<br>Save Armenia<br>Shai Fund<br>Social Democrat Hunchakian Party<br>Tekeyan Cultural Association<br>Zovighian Public Office<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">#####<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"9 January 2025 \u2013 Europeans for Artsakh, a civic initiative spanning more than 50 cities across Europe, joins the global coalition endorsing international talks toward \u201cthe universally recognized right of indigenous Artsakh Armenian refugees to a collective, protected, and dignified return home.\u201d 27 November 2024 \u2013 &#8212; Faith-Based and Civil Society Groups Call for an [&hellip;]","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3014,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,45,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3013","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-en","category-news-en","category-home_slide"],"acf":[],"cc_featured_image_caption":{"caption_text":"","source_text":"","source_url":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsakhforum.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3013","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsakhforum.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsakhforum.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsakhforum.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsakhforum.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3013"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/artsakhforum.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3013\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3015,"href":"https:\/\/artsakhforum.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3013\/revisions\/3015"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsakhforum.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3014"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsakhforum.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3013"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsakhforum.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3013"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsakhforum.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3013"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}