UNSC to be authorized to intervene when Azerbaijan’s non-compliance with ICJ ruling becomes contentious – Kirakosyan

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 14:08,

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 27, ARMENPRESS. All requests by Armenia for provisional measures in international courts are followed by tit-for-tat requests filed by Azerbaijan, Representative of Armenia on International Legal Matters Yeghishe Kirakosyan said at a press conference. By doing so, Azerbaijan seeks to cause controversy in an attempt to diminish the impact of the requests filed by Armenia, Kirakosyan explained.

“But I can say that Azerbaijan is not succeeding. I am saying this based on concrete results. For example, the latest result, when the International Court of Justice rejected Azerbaijan’s request, while granting Armenia’s request. The decisions adopted by international organizations also prove this,” Kirakosyan said.

The United Nations’ highest court – the International Court of Justice (ICJ) – ordered Azerbaijan on February 22 to “take all steps at its disposal” to ensure unimpeded movement of persons, vehicles and cargo along the Lachin Corridor in both directions. The Lachin Corridor is blocked by Azerbaijan since 12 December 2022. 

However, the Lachin Corridor is still blocked by Azerbaijan.

Although the ICJ ruling doesn’t mention timeframes for fulfilling the order, it does clearly mention that the decision is binding, which means that a country must take action from the moment the ruling is published, Kirakosyan explained.

“Unfortunately, international law doesn’t envisage an institution dealing with enforcement of decisions. The body which has some responsibility in the direction of the fulfillment of the ICJ rulings and decisions is the UN Security Council, which will be entitled to intervene when the issue becomes contentious.  We realize that an intervention by the Security Council is complicated. Although there are many other measures to maximally gain from the legal process,” Kirakosyan said.

The Representative of Armenia on International Legal Matters noted that the Foreign Ministers of various countries, as well as the UN Secretary-General, issued statements citing the ICJ ruling after it was released.

“These are important processes, the pressure must be maximally increased in this direction. By the way, this ruling is highly important in political-legal terms. Now, it turns out that apart from the trilateral statement we also have one more international legal document which stipulates unimpeded passage along Lachin corridor or Azerbaijan’s obligation to ensure it,” Kirakosyan said.