Freedom House deems Baku’s actions in Karabakh ethnic cleansing, urges ICC to act

By Sonya Dymova

In a landmark special report released Monday, Freedom House finds Azerbaijan’s actions in and around Nagorno-Karabakh since the 2020 war amount to ethnic cleansing and urged the International Criminal Court to study those violations.

“The documented actions of Azerbaijan meet the criteria for ethnic cleansing as understood in the context of the former Yugoslavia conflict,” Freedom House concludes in the report titled “Why are there no Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh?” 

To that end, the U.S.-based watchdog also concludes Azerbaijan’s actions qualify as crimes against humanity and war crimes under the Rome Statute, the founding treaty of the International Criminal Court. 

Read more: CFTJ asks International Criminal Court to investigate Azerbaijan for genocide

“There is substantial evidence of violations of the rights to life, health, food, freedom of movement, adequate standards of living, liberty and personal integrity, the right to be free from torture and other ill-treatment, right to a fair trial, education, property, as well as cultural rights,” the report adds. 

Citing its findings and “lack of prosecution on the domestic level in Azerbaijan,” Freedom House urges “international legal scrutiny and accountability” and recommends the case be referred to the ICC in The Hague for a full investigation and possible prosecution. 

The evidence for the investigation includes more than 330 interviews conducted specifically for the report, according to Andranik Shirinyan, Freedom House’s Armenia country representative, as well as from open-source data, such as satellite imagery and statements made by Azerbaijan’s officials. 

The report, prepared jointly by Freedom House and six other non-governmental organizations, marks one of the first times a major international organization has concluded Azerbaijan’s forcible displacement of nearly all of Nagorno-Karabakh’s roughly 100,000 Armenians in September 2023 constitutes an act of ethnic cleansing.

Also watch: Inside CFTJ’s demand for Azerbaijan to be investigated for genocide