The International Eurasia Press Fund, the Citizens' Labor Rights Protection League, the Human Rights Training and Research Public Union, and the “Karabakh Missing Families” Public Union have submitted a joint statement to the 31st session of the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances, APA reports.
The statement noted that the periodic report submitted by Armenia to the Committee contained no information about servicemen and civilians, including women, children, and elderly persons, who were taken prisoner and hostage by the Armenian armed forces during the First Karabakh War.
It was noted that, according to the data of the State Commission on Prisoners of War, Hostages and Missing Persons as of August 1, 2026, 4,010 people have been registered as missing as a result of Armenia's military aggression against Azerbaijan.
It was stated that 4,004 of them went missing during the First Karabakh War, while six went missing during the 44-day Second Karabakh War in 2020. Of the missing persons, 3,228 are servicemen and 782 are civilians.
It was noted that among the missing civilians, 71 were children under the age of 18, 288 were women, and 319 were elderly persons.
The statement emphasized that there is evidence and witness testimony showing that 872 of the missing persons were taken prisoner and hostage by the Armenian armed forces and held on the territory of Armenia and in the formerly occupied territories of Azerbaijan.
The document noted that the most irrefutable information was provided by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). It was stated that, according to lists provided by the ICRC in 1998 and 2001, during the First Karabakh War, ICRC employees visited 54 Azerbaijani citizens who had been taken prisoner and hostage and were held in detention facilities on the territory of Armenia and in the formerly occupied territories of Azerbaijan, and these persons were officially registered.
It was noted that the bodies of 17 of the 54 people were later returned to Azerbaijan. Although it was reported that 33 had died in detention, their bodies were not returned, while no information at all was provided about the subsequent fate of four people.
The statement also referred to the assessment report titled “Accounting for Missing Persons in the Republic of Azerbaijan,” published by the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) in 2024.
It was stated that, with the consent of the Azerbaijani government, an ICMP assessment mission operated in Azerbaijan in June 2023 and held meetings with representatives of state institutions and civil society organizations, representatives of the international community, and technical and forensic experts.
The document noted that the exhumation and identification of human remains at mass grave sites discovered in the liberated territories were also taken into account during the assessment.
The statement criticized Armenia for failing to provide information about Azerbaijanis who were taken prisoner and hostage and said that this constituted disregard for international norms.
It was noted that 32 mass grave sites have so far been discovered in Azerbaijan's liberated territories. The identification of human remains has established that they belong to Azerbaijanis who were once taken prisoner and hostage, including children, women, and elderly persons.
The document recalled that the Concluding Observations on Armenia adopted by the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination at its 114th session, held in November-December 2024, expressed concern over clarifying the fate of missing persons.
The statement noted that paragraphs 31 and 32 of that document called on Armenia to cooperate with the International Committee of the Red Cross and Azerbaijan, as well as to engage in dialogue in good faith to achieve a long-term peace agreement and clarify the fate of missing persons.
It was also stated that the UN Committee against Torture, in its Concluding Observations on Armenia, adopted at its 82nd session held in April-May 2025, expressed concern over prisoners and hostages being killed through torture and ill-treatment.
The statement emphasized that, despite repeated official appeals, Armenia has provided no information about the 4,010 people who were taken prisoner and hostage or went missing during the First and Second Karabakh Wars.
The NGOs asked the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances to demand that the Armenian state provide information about the fate of persons who were taken prisoner and hostage and subsequently disappeared.
The statement recommended that the Committee demand that Armenia provide Azerbaijan with information on the burial sites of persons who went missing during the First and Second Karabakh Wars, particularly the coordinates of mass graves.
It was also demanded that Armenia conduct a separate investigation into the 71 children who were under the age of 18 when they went missing, including 29 children whose hostage-taking was documented — seven girls and 22 boys — and disclose information about each of them.
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