Statement on the occasion of World Human Rights Day, 10 December
10 December 2024, 12:55

As the Western Azerbaijan Community, which unites numerous Azerbaijanis forcibly expelled from their homeland by Armenia and fights for their right to return, we would like to emphasize that we attach special importance to December 10 – World Human Rights Day. This day, established on the occasion of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which constitutes the universal basis of human rights and is the source of our right to return, is one of the important starting points for our just cause.

On this important day, we once again express our deep concern that Armenia continues to grossly violate human rights by denying the right of return of Western Azerbaijanis.

In addition, we express our grave concern that the Azerbaijani people as a whole are facing great injustice as a result of the ethnic and religious discrimination policies of some foreign countries. Another disturbing fact is that these countries are trying to hide their Azerbaijanophobic, discriminatory policies under the name of “human rights”. It is precisely this hypocritical policy that is the biggest blow to human rights. We strongly condemn these inherently racist approaches and declare that we will continue to make efforts to expose such actions in the future.

At the same time, we welcome the fact that our country, under the leadership of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, has put an end to the 30-year occupation of Armenia, thereby restoring the rights of hundreds of thousands of former internally displaced persons. In addition, it should be noted that the efforts of President Ilham Aliyev in the field of ensuring the right of peaceful return of Western Azerbaijanis, including the historic address addressed to the participants of the Second International Conference on the Right of Return held by the Community on December 5-6, 2024, are a great contribution to our right of return and the implementation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in general.

We call on the international community to welcome and support the ongoing efforts to return Western Azerbaijanis as an important contribution to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.