DR TEDROS ADHANOM GHEBREYESUS
DIRECTOR-GENERAL
WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION

DR HANS KLUGE
REGIONAL DIRECTOR FOR EUROPE
WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION

Dear Director-General,

Dear Regional Director for Europe,

We, the Armenian Medical Association (organization of narrow specialized professional Associations of Armenia), write to request your utmost attention to the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh, where a humanitarian catastrophe is in full swing.

Since December 12, 2022, the only road connecting Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia, the Lachin Corridor, has been blocked by so-called “eco-activists” of Azerbaijan. This is an evident state-orchestrated action aimed at harassing the people of Nagorno-Karabakh and inflicting enormous suffering on innocent civilians.

These inhumane actions of Azerbaijan run contrary to the international obligations of that country, including the commitments undertaken through the Trilateral Statement on ceasefire of the leaders of Armenia, Azerbaijan and the Russian Federation of November 9, 2020.

Point 6 of the statement provides that:
a) the Lachin Corridor shall remain under the control of the peacekeeping contingent of the Russian Federation,

b) the Republic of Azerbaijan shall guarantee safe movement of citizens, vehicles and cargo in both directions along the Lachin corridor.

At this moment, this obligation is unfulfilled.

At this moment, 120.000 civilians are cut off from the outside world.

At this moment, their supplies of food, medicine and other vital goods are running out.

There are many patients in the medical facilities of Nagorno-Karabakh, including children, in urgent need of medical support. Unhindered movement through the Lachin Corridor is essential for these patients to receive medicaments from Armenia or to be transferred to Yerevan to receive much needed care.

Only through the efforts of the International Committee of the Red Cross it was possible to transfer several patients in the direst conditions to Armenia and to send limited medical supplies to Nagorno-Karabakh.

But this is neither enough nor sustainable. We have already registered cases of avoidable patient deaths due to the blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Considering the urgency of the matter, the role and the mandate of the World Health Organization, we, the medical associations and organizations of Armenia, apply to you to take all the necessary actions to:

• Call on Azerbaijan to unblock the Lachin corridor to enable the transfer of patients and medicines from and to Nagorno-Karabakh,
• Protect the people of Nagorno-Karabakh who have found themselves in a health emergency,
• Ensure the well-being of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh.

We count on the swift and apt reaction of the World Health Organization.

Armen Soghoyan, M.D., Ph.D.
Honorary Fellow Member of World Psychiatric Association
President of Armenian Medical Association

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