Armenians in Azerbaijan are in an impossible situation. Recently, Azerbaijan’s military launched a full-on invasion of Artsak (Nagorono-Karabakh). In their brutal assault, the army killed at least 25 people and injured more than a hundred. This includes children. The attack focused on civilian infrastructure.
There are approximately 120,000 Armenian Christians in the area whose community is threatened by the brutal Azerbaijani dictatorship. The military invasion caps off a nine-month-long blockade of the region by Azerbaijan. No humanitarian aid can get through. At least 1,500 people have fled to neighboring Armenia.
We need to do more to help them.
Will you help Armenians in Azerbaijan?
Congress needs to act
A bipartisan group of Members of Congress have introduced the Supporting Armenians Against Azerbaijani Aggression Act in both the Senate (S.2900) and the House (H.R.5683). This legislation:
- Condemns Azerbaijan’s ethnic cleansing of Artsakh and calls upon Azerbaijan to lift its blockade, allow the delivery of U.S. and international humanitarian assistance, and release all Armenian POWs, in addition to authorizing multi-year appropriations of direct U.S. humanitarian aid to Artsakh and for energy, science, and military programs in Armenia.
- Authorizes President Biden to enact U.S. sanctions against President Ilham Aliyev and other senior Azerbaijani officials.
- Repeals the waiver authority for section 907 of the Freedom Support Act, banning most assistance to the Government of Azerbaijan
- Provides for a one-time authorization to appropriate money to the United States Agency for International Development to provide humanitarian assistance to groups in Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh impacted by the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War, Azerbaijan’s September 2022 attack on Armenia, and Azerbaijan’s blockade of the Lachin Corridor.
- Provides a one-time authorization to appropriate funds for the Department of State for Foreign Military Financing program assistance for the Republic of Armenia.
- Provides a three-year authorization to appropriate money to carry out activities to support the energy sector of the Republic of Armenia.
- Provides a five-year authorization to appropriate funds for activities promoting U.S.-Armenian cooperation on science and technology.
BP needs to step up for Armenians in Azerbaijan
BP has been in the region since the early 1990s. Since then, it has been the largest investor in Azerbaijan, spending more than $84 billion on projects in that nation.
The United Nations (UN) has recently clarified international guidelines for businesses operating in conflict zones. The UN calls on companies to pay closer attention to human rights in these high-risk zones. The Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights expanded its guidelines in August to add that businesses need to "identify and assess their adverse impacts on human rights and conflict, act to cease or prevent them, and track and communicate the measures taken."
Recently, a group of business leaders sent a letter to Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev. In it, they wrote:
We urge the Government of Azerbaijan to meet its obligations as set out in international law, so that all people in Nagorno-Karabakh can live in peace and security, free from discrimination and the threat of inhuman and degrading treatment, and are able to move freely, including leaving and re-entering the area. Their safety, dignity, and liberty must be upheld.
But BP has said nothing even though it has a powerful influence on the Azerbaijan government. Sign the petition to demand that BP step up and speak out against Azerbaijan's atrocities against the Armenians of Artsakh/Nagorno-Karabakh.
For More Information:
"Conflict and exodus in Nagorno-Karabakh: bp’s urgent responsibilities," by Nora Mardirossian and Phil Bloomer, Business and Human Rights Resource Center, 4 October 2023