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“Nagorno Karabakh does not have hostages, POWs in its territory”-was officially announced by Viktor Kocharyan-head of the state commission on missing persons of Nagorno Karabakh. He gave a positive answer to the question whether hostages had been kept in Karabakh before.

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“The Karabakh war was a mockery for two nations”–announced the coordinator of HCA Azerbaijani National Committee Arzu Abdullayeva during the conference organized by “Helsinki Initiative ‘92”-and we understood that if it were an Armenian problem then we could sit and talk at a table”. During the one-day conference human rights defenders, public actors and relatives of missing persons of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia discussed the consequences of the Karabakh war and the influence of the current conflicts of South Caucasus on civilians.

With support of Interchurch Peace Council (IKV) the organizations of HCA South Caucasus network implement activities for the search of missing persons, definition and solution of the social issues of their families and which is more important they want to fix them in the legislative field. After the war, the three countries have not settled the problems of missing persons yet. The problems that are not fixed in legal acts create difficulties in the field of social support for their families. In order to get any assistance, the family must recognize that its missing relative has died. The parents of missing persons who were present at the conference are against this mechanism and they think it is time to regulate this. Arzu Abdullayeva said that their organization had presented about 80 cases to the court. The court decided to keep the status and allocated USD 1100 to families. During the conference, the coordinator of HCA Vanadzor Arthur Sakunts presented a draft law, which defines the status of missing persons of the war and after that, the social problems of their families and the ways of solution. The Dashnak party is interested in the draft law. Preoperational works are carried out to put the law on the agenda of the National Assembly. During this meeting of experts as an example of cooperation between conflict sides was the experience of Georgian-Abkhazian NGOs. Nineli Andriadze who represents the Georgian organization “Molodini”, who is also a member of state commission on missing persons told about the activities carried out jointly with the Abkhazian side. They exchanged the bodies of POWs, carried out repatriation, created a museum of missing persons and POWs, created information database. And what is the most important, as a result of Georgian-Abkhazian events the enemy image was overcome, and Nineli Andriadze who does not have any information on whereabouts of her son, speaks about Abkhazian soldiers with love “as they protected their motherland”. The representative of HCA Georgia and Ukraine presented the conference participants the provisions of International Humanitarian Law and the rights of missing soldiers, citizens in South Caucasus. There was a suggestion to apply to relevant structures of the three countries with a statement stressing the urgent solution of the problems of missing persons and their families. Journalist from Karabakh Karina Ohanyan shared her journalist’s experience on publications about the problems of missing soldiers, POWs. The Armenian, Azerbaijani and Georgian delegations met with Arkadi Ghukasyan-president of Nagorno Karabakh. The head of the country, recognized by international society, welcomed such meetings and the necessity of participation of civil society from the viewpoint of peaceful regulation of the Karabakh conflict, appreciated the visit of Azerbaijani delegation to Karabakh and mentioned that Nagorno Karabakh should take part in negotiations. At the same time, regardless of participation, Armenian and Azeri societies must be ready to listen to one another and accept each other not as enemies but as conflict sides. The participants of the conference visited Gandzasar, Shushi, the isolator of Shushi to get familiar with the conditions and the prisoners. The representatives of the Azerbaijani delegation had the opportunity to see the prisoners themselves and disperse their suspicions that there are Azeri people there.

Naira Bulghadarya