The opposition Hayastan bloc in parliament on Apr. 9, 2024

Opposition forces in Armenia are sounding the alarm about deteriorating democratic norms, saying that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan is actively “usurping the people’s free will choose.”

Pashinyan late last week told reporters that if any opposition force were to be elected Armenia would face war and urged the public to vote for him and his Civil Contract Party, claiming that they have ushered in peace after decades of war.
He reiterated those sentiments during a pre-election campaign stomp on Sunday announcing that if opposition forces are elected in June, a “catastrophic war” will be imminent by September.

“It [war] will happen in September, not any later,” Pashinyan declared, “There will be a war in September—a catastrophic war.”

Artsvik Minasyan, who represents the opposition Armenia faction in parliament called Pashinyan’s war mongering “criminal.”

“It is a threat to influence the people’s will, which is prohibited and a criminally punishable act,” Minasyan told Azatutyun.am on Tuesday. Another opposition lawmaker, Taguhi Tovmasyan, who represents the “I Have Honor” bloc said Pashinyan effectively was blackmailing voter.

Minasyan said Pashinyan is committing a crime, and the Prosecutor General’s Office must initiate criminal proceedings under Article 421 of the Criminal Code for actions aimed at renouncing sovereignty through the threat of violence.

“You see, one of the important elements of sovereignty is the _expression_ of democracy—the will of the people. When he threatens the will of the people with a possible, probable war, that is, with possible violence, he is already committing a crime against sovereignty. And if we had a normal Prosecutor’s Office – a Prosecutor’s Office that upholds the law, the constitutional norm, an Anti-Corruption Committee, an Investigative Committee, criminal proceedings should have been initiated by now,” Minasyan emphasized.

If the Prosecutor General’s Office does not take steps regarding Pashinyan’s statements, Minasyan does not rule out that his faction would appeal to law enforcement bodies.

Tovmasyan, the other opposition lawmaker, said she believed that Pashinyan’s actions against the free _expression_ of voters should become the subject of attention not only in Armenia, but also by international organizations.

“If we were a truly normal, democratic, developing country, and the Central Election Commission of the Republic of Armenia was not a subsidiary of the ‘Civil Contract’ party, but a truly independent commission, it should have already recorded that there is a violation of the will of the citizens of Armenia, and this violence is manifested in the form of blackmail: ‘If I am not elected, there will be war,’” Tovmasyan added.

Pashinyan claimed that the main opposition forces would walk back the peace agreement he reached with President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan in the White House last August, saying that those forces also had territorial claims from Armenia’s neighbors. Foreign Minister Arart Mirzoyan concurred with the prime minister, telling parliament on Monday that opposition forces pose territorial claims against “almost all of Armenia’s neighors.”

“We have never had territorial claims,” Minasyan countered, explaining that raising the issue of the fundamental freedoms and rights of Artsakh Armenians cannot be seen as incitement to war.

“We are not talking about territorial claims,” Minasyan said. “First of all, we are talking about a mechanism for the international acceptance of the dignified return of Artsakh residents with security guarantees and rights. We have never had territorial claims. No political force has officially presented a territorial claim, nor has it actually been spoken about it.”

The opposition insists that a so-called peace that prioritizes Baku’s whims cannot be real. Therefore, the main opposition forces of calling for international guarantees to establish peace—a position articulated by the prime minister in the past.

The opposition forces would like to renegotiate the current document that is not a peace agreement, but rather an initialed paper that expresses the sides’ willingness to work toward peace.

“It is necessary for there to be a mechanism that will make that peace long-term. It will be either an international consortium, so to speak, which will become the guarantor of peace,” Minasyan, the Armenia faction lawmaker, said.

He said that if Azerbaijan disagrees with such a mechanism that signals that Azerbaijan does not want peace.

Minasyan explained that he is advocating for engagement in diplomacy with international partners that “want peace in the region.”

“If they want peace, but Azerbaijan does not want it, it means that that international consortium becomes the entity that is talking to Azerbaijan, not Armenia,” Minasyan added.

Pashinyan, on the other hand, said discussing guarantees signals the willingness in engage international peacekeepers into the region and Armenia—a plan he has supported by asking for and receiving a European Union mission to Armenia, which will continue is mandate until early next year.

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105th Anniversary of Soghomon Tehlirian’s Heroism Marked

The Fresno community turned to mark the 135th anniversary of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation on March 14 organized by the ARF Soghomon Tehlirian chapter. The event held at the Garo and Alice Gureghian Armenian Cultural Center.

A surprise announcement by benefactor Alice Gureghian, who pledged to bequeath additional funds from her estate to the Fresno’s Armenian Cultural Foundation to ensure the maintenance and upkeep of the center that is named after her and her husband.

The Fresno ACF extended its utmost gratitude to Gureghian for her unwavering support of the organization and the center, which serves as vibrant hub for the community.

Garo Gureghian, who is the son of late Asbarez Editor Melik Shah, and his wife Alice announced a donation of $300,000 to the ACF Fresno Center in 2014.

A capacity crowd of more than 400 community members gathered in 2017 for the grand re-opening of the Fresno Armenian Center, which was rechristened that day as the Garo and Alice Gureghian Armenian Cultural Center.

Screenshot

Mr. and Mrs. Gureghian were on hand and ushered community leaders in the ribbon-cutting ceremony, which kicked off the evening’s festivities to celebrate this milestone.

A year after their generous donation, in 2015, the ACF honored Mr. & Mrs. Garo and Alice Gureghian during their annual gala, citing their unwavering and decades-long support of the organization and its mission to advance the aspirations of the Armenian people.

The ARF Day Celebration on March 14, under the banner of “Honoring Our Legacy,” not only brought together the Fresno community, but became a success due the attendance of community and ARF members from the Bay Area and Los Angeles.

The evening’s program began with Master of Ceremonies Nshan Der Kalousdian who highlighted the role the ARF has, and continues to play, in our modern Armenian history, as well as the Fresno Armenian community.

Der Kalousdian also introduced other guests, among them former Western Prelate Archbishop Torkom Donoyan.

Van Boghossian relayed the ARF Soghomon Tehlirian chapter’s message, after which the chapter president, Raffy Chekherdemian introduced a special video tribute to all Fresno ARF members who had passed away during the past more than 40 years.

DJ Raffy and Hratch Gaydzagian provided the evening’s entertainment.

A day after the event, on March 15, a special Requiem Service was held at the On the Holy Trinity Armenian Church in memory of great National Hero, Soghomon Tehlirian, marking the 105th anniversary of his heroic fete to bring justice for the Armenian Genocide.

Following the church services, Fresno parish priest Very Reverend Ashod Khachadourian led a memorial service at the Soghomon Tehlirian Monument that is located at the Masis Ararat Armenian Cemetery.

The event began with the Homenetmen Fresno Sassoon Chapter scouts marching toward the monument and laying a wreath. A brief program, once again, was led by Der Kalousdian, who invited Boghossian to present a message on behalf of the ARF Soghom Tehlirian chapter.

Zvart Boghossian recited a moving poem marking the occasion, following which the attendees sang the traditional ode “Verkerov Lee” in remembrance of Soghomon Tehlirian. Following the recitation, Armenian Youth Federation Kevork Chavoush Chapter Chairman Berj Karamanlian presented remarks on behalf of the youth.

“The success of this weekend was not the ARF Soghomon Tehlirian Gomideh of Fresno alone, it was a success for the Region since so many from all over came together to support and show respect to our Martyrs. We also extend many thanks to Archishop Torkom Donoyan and Mrs. Alice Gureghian for attending the event,” said Chekherdemian, the ARF chapter chairperson.105th Anniversary of Soghomon Tehlirian’s Heroism Marked

The Fresno community turned to mark the 135th anniversary of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation on March 14 organized by the ARF Soghomon Tehlirian chapter. The event held at the Garo and Alice Gureghian Armenian Cultural Center.

A surprise announcement by benefactor Alice Gureghian, who pledged to bequeath additional funds from her estate to the Fresno’s Armenian Cultural Foundation to ensure the maintenance and upkeep of the center that is named after her and her husband.

The Fresno ACF extended its utmost gratitude to Gureghian for her unwavering support of the organization and the center, which serves as vibrant hub for the community.

Garo Gureghian, who is the son of late Asbarez Editor Melik Shah, and his wife Alice announced a donation of $300,000 to the ACF Fresno Center in 2014.

A capacity crowd of more than 400 community members gathered in 2017 for the grand re-opening of the Fresno Armenian Center, which was rechristened that day as the Garo and Alice Gureghian Armenian Cultural Center.

Screenshot

Mr. and Mrs. Gureghian were on hand and ushered community leaders in the ribbon-cutting ceremony, which kicked off the evening’s festivities to celebrate this milestone.

A year after their generous donation, in 2015, the ACF honored Mr. & Mrs. Garo and Alice Gureghian during their annual gala, citing their unwavering and decades-long support of the organization and its mission to advance the aspirations of the Armenian people.

The ARF Day Celebration on March 14, under the banner of “Honoring Our Legacy,” not only brought together the Fresno community, but became a success due the attendance of community and ARF members from the Bay Area and Los Angeles.

The evening’s program began with Master of Ceremonies Nshan Der Kalousdian who highlighted the role the ARF has, and continues to play, in our modern Armenian history, as well as the Fresno Armenian community.

Der Kalousdian also introduced other guests, among them former Western Prelate Archbishop Torkom Donoyan.

Van Boghossian relayed the ARF Soghomon Tehlirian chapter’s message, after which the chapter president, Raffy Chekherdemian introduced a special video tribute to all Fresno ARF members who had passed away during the past more than 40 years.

DJ Raffy and Hratch Gaydzagian provided the evening’s entertainment.

A day after the event, on March 15, a special Requiem Service was held at the On the Holy Trinity Armenian Church in memory of great National Hero, Soghomon Tehlirian, marking the 105th anniversary of his heroic fete to bring justice for the Armenian Genocide.

Following the church services, Fresno parish priest Very Reverend Ashod Khachadourian led a memorial service at the Soghomon Tehlirian Monument that is located at the Masis Ararat Armenian Cemetery.

The event began with the Homenetmen Fresno Sassoon Chapter scouts marching toward the monument and laying a wreath. A brief program, once again, was led by Der Kalousdian, who invited Boghossian to present a message on behalf of the ARF Soghom Tehlirian chapter.

Zvart Boghossian recited a moving poem marking the occasion, following which the attendees sang the traditional ode “Verkerov Lee” in remembrance of Soghomon Tehlirian. Following the recitation, Armenian Youth Federation Kevork Chavoush Chapter Chairman Berj Karamanlian presented remarks on behalf of the youth.

“The success of this weekend was not the ARF Soghomon Tehlirian Gomideh of Fresno alone, it was a success for the Region since so many from all over came together to support and show respect to our Martyrs. We also extend many thanks to Archishop Torkom Donoyan and Mrs. Alice Gureghian for attending the event,” said Chekherdemian, the ARF chapter chairperson.

—

The Armenian Relief Society once again actively participated in this year’s 70th Session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, held at United Nations Headquarters in New York, through a series of initiatives and engagements.

The ARS delegation had the privilege to attend the official opening session of the Commission, which took place on Monday, March 9, 2026, at UN Headquarters, under the theme: “Ensuring and strengthening access to justice for women and girls, particularly through the promotion of inclusive and effective legal systems, the elimination of discriminatory laws, policies and practices, and the removal of structural barriers.”

The ARS delegation also participated in a town hall meeting with United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres. In addition, the delegation attended a ministerial-level meeting of the EUestablished “Group of Friends for the Prevention of Violence Against Women and Girls.”

Also, the ARS UN Committee, in collaboration with the Armenian Legal Center for Justice and Human Rights and the Armenian Bar Association, organized a parallel event March 17 at the UN Church Center, entitled: “From Displacement to Justice: Strengthening Protection, Rights and Recovery for Conflict-Affected Women and Girls.”

The panel included presentations by Dr. Kevork Hagopjian, Gev Iskajyan, and Areni Hamparian, and was moderated by Talar Abdalian.

During the two weeks of the proceedings, the ARS delegation was joined by the five members of the Central Executive Board, members of the Eastern USA Executive Board, as well as representatives from Eastern USA, Canada, and South America who participated in a series of high- level meetings.

Among these, the session titled “Prosperous, Healthy, and Dignified: Policy Pathways for Older Women in Developing Countries” was of Particular significance.

The Armenian Relief Society, as a non-governmental organization, has been actively engaged with relevant United Nations bodies since 1976. Since 1988, it has held consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).

In addition, an ARS delegation attended the 61st Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council from March 16 to 18, in Geneva, where safeguarding civil liberties, preventing discrimination, and equality were discussed.

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Dr. Kevork Hagopjian speaks remotely to a UN panel on Mar. 17

BY DR. KEVORK HAGOPJIAN, ESQ.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Dr. Kevork Hagopjian, Esq. made a presentation on March 17 at a United Nations panel entitled “From Displacement to Justice: Strengthening Protection, Rights and Recovery for Conflict-Affected Women and Girls.” Speaking on behalf of the Armenian Legal Center for Justice and Human Rights, Hagopjian highlighted the plight of Artsakh women who were forcibly displaced in 2023.

Below is Dr. Hagopjian’s presentation

A Legal Crisis in Plain Sight

Distinguished panelists, honored delegates,

Imagine waking up one morning to find that the legal architecture meant to protect you — international humanitarian law, CEDAW, the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement or refugees — exists in full, on paper. And yet you are homeless. Your husband is a prisoner of war in a foreign country. You do not know whether he is alive. Your house has been destroyed, your land confiscated, and there is no court for redress.

This is not a hypothetical. This is the lived legal reality of tens of thousands of indigenous Armenian women from Nagorno-Karabakh — Artsakh — who were displaced, forcibly displaced, in September 2023. More than 150,000 ethnic Armenians fled within days. More than half of them were women and girls.

The Armenian Legal Center for Justice and Human Rights — ALC — pursues accountability for victims of this conflict through international legal mechanisms. Today I want to speak from that legal vantage point: not only to describe suffering, but to name the specific legal obligations being violated, with precise figures, and to argue that this Commission must treat access to justice not as an aspiration, but as an enforceable standard.

Three Rights, Three Failures — With Numbers
The CSW70 priority theme asks us to eliminate structural barriers to justice. Allow me to name three structural failures where international law is clear, obligations are binding, and the gap between law and reality is measurable.

The Right to Know — Missing Persons and Enforced Disappearance
Under the Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocols, all parties to an armed conflict have a binding legal duty to search for missing persons, provide information about their fate and whereabouts, and facilitate the return of remains. When states fail this obligation, the families of missing persons — overwhelmingly mothers, wives, and daughters — suffer a continuing violation of their own rights: to family life, to be free from cruel treatment, and to an effective remedy.

Here are the numbers behind that legal failure:
429 persons still missing from the 2020 war and subsequent hostilities — ICRC tracing requests, 2020–2023
195 additional missing from the September 2023 offensive alone — International Commission on Missing Persons, September 2024
777 missing from the first Karabakh war — still unresolved after three decades — ICMP Armenia report, September 2024

That is more than 1,400 people whose fate is unknown to their families across the two Karabakh wars and the 2023 displacement. Behind each number is a mother, a wife, a daughter waiting — in some cases for thirty years. This is not a bureaucratic gap. It is a continuing legal violation, recognized as such under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the jurisprudence of the ECHR, and CEDAW General Recommendation 30.

ALC, together with partner organizations, has submitted cases before the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances and engaged the ECHR precisely because the right to know is not a political courtesy — it is a justiciable right. When legal channels fall silent, women bear the burden alone.

POWs, Detainees, and the Weaponization of Legal Categories
International humanitarian law is clear: prisoners of war must be treated humanely, granted family contact, monitored by neutral actors, and repatriated after active hostilities. These are not aspirational standards — they are binding obligations under the Third Geneva Convention.

What has happened in practice is a systematic legal reclassification that transforms these protections into bargaining chips. Consider the trajectory of acknowledged detainees:
72 Armenians acknowledged in custody — ECHR/Committee of Ministers notification, March 2021
23 acknowledged in custody — four years later — ECHR update request, October 2025
19 confirmed held today, after the January 2026 release — post-swap baseline, January–February 2026

These declining numbers might appear to indicate progress. They do not. They reflect a deliberate legal strategy: from February 2021 onward, Azerbaijani officials publicly claimed there were “no POWs left” — reclassifying remaining Armenian detainees as criminal suspects. Criminal cases were opened against more than sixty Armenian POWs and civilians, with short and sham trials, heavy sentences, and releases tied explicitly to negotiations rather than to legal standards.

Critically for this panel: the ICRC ended its physical presence in Azerbaijan in September 2025. The one organization with a mandate to conduct confidential detention monitoring — to be the neutral actor guaranteed by IHL — is no longer there. Families of the 19 confirmed remaining detainees now have no independent monitor, no confidential channel, no eyes inside those facilities. This is the worst possible moment for the international community to look away.

The Right to Return and Reparations — Justice as a Matter of Geography
The right of displaced persons to voluntary, safe and dignified return is enshrined in the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement and in CEDAW General Recommendation 32 on gender-responsive approaches to displacement. Housing, land and property restitution is a core component of reparations under the UN Basic Principles on the Right to a Remedy.

For Artsakh women displaced to Armenia and third countries, none of these rights have a functional mechanism attached to them. There is no restitution process, no property claims body, no international monitor with physical access to the territory.

There is also the dimension of torture and secondary victimization that the UN Committee Against Torture shadow report of March 2024 places squarely on the table: families described as ‘secondary victims,’ harmed by public humiliation videos, uncertainty, and threats. The report documents abuse from capture through transport to closed detention. Impunity for perpetrators — in some cases, their glorification — is itself a form of ongoing harm to women who wait for information.

From Documentation to Adjudication: What ALC Does
The ALC’s work proceeds from a conviction that international legal mechanisms — imperfect as they are — remain essential tools for communities who have no army, no territory, and no state resources to compel accountability. Let me describe three dimensions of our work directly relevant to this panel.

Documentation as a Legal Foundation
Legal accountability begins with evidence. ALC conducts systematic documentation of violations committed against indigenous Armenians across the 2020 war, the 2022–2023 blockade, and the September 2023 displacement. Our documentation includes survivor testimony, open-source intelligence, satellite imagery, and forensic methods recognized by international tribunals.

Trauma-informed documentation that centers the experience of women survivors is not a methodological preference — it is a legal imperative, recognized by the ICC Policy on the Crime of Genocide and its framework for gender-based crimes.

Strategic Litigation — International and Regional Courts
ALC has been engaged in supporting ECHR proceedings on behalf of Armenian POWs, civilian detainees, and displaced persons. The ECHR’s Rule 39 interim measures framework has been invoked repeatedly to seek information about detainees’ fate and to demand safeguards — because without that pressure, ‘acknowledged’ numbers would be even harder to obtain.

The UN System — Advocacy and Treaty Body Engagement
ALC engages with Universal Periodic Review submissions, Special Procedures communications, and treaty body reviews. We submitted to the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, highlighting how video evidence of captives in custody can coexist with official denial of their detention — a perverse but legally significant dynamic.

We have called for the CEDAW Committee to exercise its inquiry procedure under Article 8 of the Optional Protocol where there is evidence of grave or systematic violations. The Special Rapporteur on IDPs, the Working Group on Disappearances, and the Special Rapporteur on Torture all have active mandates with direct application to what is described in this room. Their engagement is not optional — it is required.

Four Calls to This Commission
This Commission has the opportunity — and the responsibility — to produce agreed conclusions that close specific accountability gaps. On behalf of ALC, we urge the following:

First: Name POW families and families of the missing explicitly.
The agreed conclusions must recognize that women who are family members of missing persons, POWs & hostages, and disappeared individuals suffer distinct, continuing violations. With over 1,400 persons missing across the Karabakh conflicts and 19 confirmed hostages still held — with no independent monitor present since ICRC’s departure in September 2025 — this Commission cannot afford generic language. States must be called upon to implement IHL obligations on missing persons and detainees as legal duties, not as political choices.

Second: Condemn the weaponization of legal categories.
The practice of reclassifying POWs and hostages as criminal suspects to extend detention and extract political concessions must be named as a violation of IHL and international human rights law. The agreed conclusions should affirm that domestic criminal proceedings cannot substitute for compliance with POW repatriation obligations under the Third Geneva Convention.

Third: Integrate the right to return into gender-responsive justice frameworks.
Displaced women’s access to justice requires legal recognition of housing, land and property rights that are independent of documentation gaps caused by the displacement itself. The agreed conclusions should call for accessible, gender-sensitive property claims mechanisms and for international support for legal aid to displaced populations.

Fourth: Address the monitoring vacuum and Call for the immediate and unconditional Release of POWs and Hostages.
The ICRC’s departure from Azerbaijan in September 2025 creates a dangerous monitoring gap. This Commission should call on states to facilitate the immediate restoration of independent detention monitoring — and on the relevant state to grant the ICRC and other neutral actors unobstructed access, as required under IHL. No monitoring means no protection. What would be even more important is to call for the immediate and unconditional release of all remaining POWs and hostages.

Justice Is Not Patience

“States are not permitted to remain passive in the face of the suffering of victims of serious violations of international law.” — Inter-American Court of Human Rights, Velásquez Rodríguez

The women of Artsakh did not choose displacement. They did not choose to have their husbands taken as prisoners of war and hostages, their names entered into a missing persons database, their properties confiscated, their right to return suspended indefinitely in the corridors of geopolitics. They chose to survive. And survival, when the legal system functions as it should, is the beginning of a claim — not the end of one.

Today, 19 men remain confirmed in Azerbaijani custody — several with life sentences handed down just weeks ago. More than 1,400 families do not know the fate of their loved ones. There is no functioning restitution mechanism for the property lost by 150,000 displaced Armenians. And the one neutral body mandated to monitor detention has been absent since September 2025.

These are not abstract legal failures. They are the daily reality of women in Armenia and in diaspora communities around the world — women who come to organizations like ours not because they believe in the perfection of international law, but because they believe that the alternative to accountability is silence, and silence is what perpetrators prefer.

ALC will continue to file cases, submit reports, document violations, and argue before every available forum until these obligations are met. We ask this Commission to share that commitment — in the agreed conclusions, in the follow-through, and in the political will to treat women’s access to justice as a non-negotiable foundation of the international order this institution was created to defend.

The women of Artsakh are here. Their cases are filed. The law is on their side. What they need is for this Commission to be on their side too.

Thank you.

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