On 17 November 2023, the International Court of Justice rendered its order on the 5th request for provisional measures filed by the Republic of Armenia in the case brought against the Republic of Azerbaijan under the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD), by granting Armenia’s requests.
As a reminder, Armenia filed this request for provisional measures immediately following Azerbaijan’s attack on Nagorno-Karabakh on 19 September 2023.
Notwithstanding several undertakings made by Azerbaijan during the hearings of October 12th, the Court found them to be insufficient to entirely remove the risk of irreparable harm to the rights of ethnic Armenians.
Accordingly, pending the final decision on the merits in the case Armenia v. Azerbaijan, the Court adopted the following provisional measures, ordering Azerbaijan to:1) “(i) ensure 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; (ii) ensure that persons who remained in Nagorno-Karabakh after 19 September 2023 and who wish to depart are able to do so in a safe, unimpeded and expeditious manner; and (iii) ensure that persons who remained in Nagorno-Karabakh after 19 September 2023 or returned to Nagorno-Karabakh and who wish to stay are free from the use of force or intimidation that may cause them to flee”; and
2) “protect and preserve registration, identity and private property documents and records that concern the persons identified under subparagraph (1) and have due regard to such documents and records in its administrative and legislative practices”.
As stated earlier, during the hearings of Armenia’s 5th request, Azerbaijan made unilateral undertakings, inter alia, to facilitate access to the ICRC and inspections by the UN, to protect and not to damage or destroy cultural monuments, which the Court reinstated and emphasized their legally binding force.
The Court further ordered Azerbaijan to “submit a report to the Court on the steps taken to give effect to the provisional measures indicated and to the undertakings made by the Agent of Azerbaijan within eight weeks”. Armenia will then have an opportunity to submit comments on Azerbaijan’s report.At the same time, in its Order the Court reaffirmed the provisional measures indicated by its Orders of 7 December 2021 and 22 February 2023.
The Court’s Order is momentous as in no other case in the Court’s history has a State faced as many orders on provisional measures in a single proceeding, which is an evidence of the failure by Azerbaijan to abide by its international obligations.
Like the preceding Orders, the Court’s most recent Order creates legally binding obligations under international law with which Azerbaijan must immediately comply in good faith.
Armenia will closely monitor Azerbaijan’s compliance with the Order and its undertakings and will inform the Court of any violation.
