Time in Yerevan: 11:07,   19 March 2024

“ICRC neither a judge nor a policeman to enforce judicial mandate”, says Head of ICRC Delegation in Armenia

“ICRC neither a judge nor a policeman to enforce judicial mandate”, says Head of ICRC 
Delegation 
in Armenia

YEREVAN, MAY 23, ARMENPRESS. By working in hot spots throughout the world, the International Committee of the Red Cross is being witness to violations of International Humanitarian Laws, but does not perform the function of testifying to it, as its dialogue with the sides is confidential.

ARMENPRESS had an interview with Caroline Douilliez, Head of the ICRC Delegation in Armenia, about the military operations of April, the incidents that happened during those times as well as about the missing persons of 1992-1994.

With the conflict escalation along the line of contact in April, the ICRC became particularly visible for its support to the sides. What did you actually do in those days?

As the fighting escalated on 2 April, we offered our services to respond to humanitarian needs and to act as a neutral intermediary between the sides. From 8 to 20 April, we supported several operations on the search and retrieval of the bodies of the fallen combatants from the battlefield and we facilitated their handover to the sides. We continue to be in regular contact with the sides and are discussing needs resulting from this escalation. We stand ready to provide humanitarian assistance as necessary.

 

You are the only international organization working in Nagorno-Karabakh. How do you assess the humanitarian situation after the escalation and what do you do there now?

You are quite right - the ICRC has been present in Nagorno-Karabakh since 1992 in relation to the conflict. Our office there comprises around 15 staff members. Currently we are scaling up our setup and activities to respond to humanitarian consequences of the recent escalation. Our specialists work with the local structures according to the needs and in various fields, including healthcare, management of human remains, existence of unexploded ordnance in the affected areas, and damage to infrastructure and civilian property. End of April, we started distributing one-off cash grants to the people who fled their homes in villages of Tonashen, Madaghis and Talish and were temporarily resettled in other places around Nagorno-Karabakh. During a two-month period, each of these persons will receive 37,500 drams per month, which will help them to cover essential spending in line with their needs and preferences. Importantly, the ICRC works on both sides of the line of contact.

But let’s return to handovers. Being present there and actually facilitating the operations, you must have witnessed a lot. A group of Armenian lawyers applied to the European Court for Human Rights on behalf of the families of the soldiers whose bodies were returned mutilated and with signs of torture. How does the ICRC follow up on such cases?

We are often asked to share what we have seen on the ground and even to confirm whether a side has breached norms of the Geneva Conventions. The answer is that the ICRC is indeed on the ground and closely follows up on allegations of wrongdoing, including violations of the international humanitarian law. However, as a neutral intermediary organization, we work based on a bilateral and confidential dialogue with the sides. This means that we never share our findings with a third side, nor do we transmit them to any court or an international organization. As a result, states cannot ask the ICRC to testify or serve as a witness of IHL violations. This practice has been in place already for many years in all the countries where we work.

 

What do you do then to address your findings with the responsible side?

We seek to document firsthand information of alleged violations and then share it only with the party concerned. As I mentioned, our dialogue with the sides to the conflict is bilateral and confidential. At all times. So we discuss this information with the party asking to take appropriate measures and to consider it further when conducting hostilities. As we usually say, the ICRC is neither a judge nor a policeman to enforce a judicial mandate. At the same time, in line with our mandate, we are consistent in reminding the parties of their obligations to abide to the norms of the international humanitarian law.

As announced in your recent press release, fates of all the missing reported by the sides following the escalation have been clarified. How about the list of nearly 4,500 persons unaccounted for during the conflict in 1992-1994? Do you continue to work on this issue?

Maybe I could start by saying during the 4 days of April there were a number of soldiers who were reported missing, but as of today, through operation that were carried out there are no missing in this particular escalation. And I think it is important to welcome this and to say it is because coordination between the sides. And we have also supported that process, but it shows when everybody makes the necessary efforts there are no longer missing persons. And that’s exactly what we would like to see happening concerning the missing cases of the 90’s. And it is true as you say, that there are still over 4500 persons who are missing from all sides in the region. Their families are waiting to have news from them, so even if we are very busy with the consequences of the recent escalation, this issue is very important for us and remains very important. Because we know how much the suffering of families continues whatever time has passed, so we continue to work on this, we aren’t letting go. We are working with the commissions on all sides to try to clarify the fate, to get more information. And also we work to support the families at the same time together with the Armenian Red Cross, and other local partners in Armenia and also in Nagorno Karabakh. We are really hoping to see solutions and answers found for the families.

What about the process of DNA collection, has it already started?

In order to find answers we need to make research. And this means that at first we need to work with the sides to identify places where the exhumations could be carried out, we call it potential gravesites so it’s a collection of information which is quite complex which is done in cooperation with the sides and at the same time we also work to collect information on each missing person and also to collect the biological sample from the family members, so that potential identification could take place during exhumation. So we started the process already 2 years ago, we have already collected one hundred samples from family members of missing persons last year and this year. We will continue and we hope that within the next two years we will have collected all the samples from all the relevant family members. So this is an ongoing process.

100 samples in Armenia only?

Yes, but it is proceeding on both sides.

Is the process proceeding normally in Azerbaijan? Because the organization dealing with POWs raised the question that they don’t want to cooperate.

The process is carried out on both sides and is led by ICRC in cooperation with the commissions on all sides. We have a very good working dialogue with all sides.

What is ICRC's expectation of this particular process, will the persons be found, or are these samples collected for archiving?

The process that you mentioned is complex. There are a lot of different pieces that you need to collect and put together to get the full puzzle. The biological samples are one piece, but there are other pieces as well.

We need to identify the gravesites, and then afterwords forensic specialists will carry out exhumations. Afterwards there will be a need to collect these together and give final answers to the families. And this is complex and we cannot be mistaken, we need to have a lot of information to be able to provide an answer for sure for families. There is a lot of work that involves different specialists and experts. It is proceeding and we're very hopeful that it will lead to answers because we know how much families need it even today.

How many are missing in Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh?

There are around 4 hundred missing persons whom we registered in the Republic of Armenia and around 4 hundred in Nagorno Karabakh.

Would you like to add something?

I think one thing is important today for the families beyond the fight that we continue to work to find answers. I think it's important for the society to recognize their needs and their pain. We work with local authorities to have memory places, which can be a place, where families go to honor the memory of someone, because they have no graves. There is a similar project and we hope that there will be something in the future.








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