Schiff Urges Biden to Personally Call Aliyev to End Blockade, Assess Options for U.S. Aid to Artsakh

The population of Artsakh is in urgent need of assistance, including those most vulnerable – pregnant women, children, and the elderly and disabled. Life-saving medications and baby formula are almost gone. Health authorities in Artsakh have reported a surge in the disease incidence and death rate related to malnutrition, lack of medicines, and lack of emergency medical services/transport. For example, the level of anemia among pregnant women has reached approximately 90 percent and incidents of fainting due to malnutrition have become widely reported. The grave consequence is that innocent civilians are increasingly suffering from malnutrition and facing the imminent threat of starvation in accordance with Aliyev’s deliberate and strategic design. At this very moment, a convoy of trucks carrying 400 tons of humanitarian aid is blocked by Azerbaijan and not allowed to enter Artsakh. These actions are in clear violation of international law and the 2020 trilateral ceasefire statement. The August 7 statement by UN experts called for Azerbaijan “to uphold its international obligations to respect and protect human rights, including the right to food, health, education and life,” and I join them in that call.

Though the U.S. government, the European Union, UN experts, and Russia have condemned the blockade and called for the corridor to be opened to regular traffic, Azerbaijan has ignored such statements for months. The U.S. Department of State and USAID have tried to use diplomacy to put an end to Aliyev’s blockade of the Lachin Corridor, but the time for statements and such calls has clearly long passed. The United States must take concrete actions and immediately use other tools to press Azerbaijan to return to compliance with international law and order. I therefore urge you to take the following steps:

Convene an emergency session of the UN Security Council (UNSC) on the crisis in Artsakh while the United States holds the presidency.This situation aligns with our country’s intention to focus this session on combating food insecurity and defending human rights and is an urgent matter demanding UNSC attention. UN Secretary-General Guterres voiced deep concern over the ongoing blockade and “the deteriorating situation on the ground” via an August 2 statement, and he and UN special rapporteurs have called for action. It is time for the UNSC to engage. I agree, as the Armenian government stated in an August 12 letter, that “the UN Security Council, as a principal body responsible for maintaining international peace and security, to prevent mass atrocities including war crimes, ethnic cleansing, crimes against humanity and genocide,” must convene a meeting on this crisis as soon as possible.

Direct the U.S. Mission to the UN to lead a UN Security Council resolution calling on Azerbaijan to immediately comply with the orders of the International Court of Justice, providing for the deployment of a team of UN experts to Artsakh to gather information and produce an independent report on the human rights and humanitarian situation, and sanction Azerbaijan for its flagrant violations of international law and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Direct USAID and the Department of Defense to assess options for the United States to assist in the delivery of aid to Artsakh by land or airlift to prevent the very real threat of starvation and avoid the preventable deaths of innocent civilians.

Personally call Aliyevand urge him to lift the blockade. Warn him that there will be consequences, including the implementation of sanctions, visa restrictions, and cutting off U.S. foreign assistance, should the blockade continue. Many of us in Congress believe that Azerbaijan should have been cut off from U.S aid a long time ago.