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The Artsakh Republic remains open for international structures to carry out programmes in the republic, however the universality of human rights is not always the case, the Human Rights Defender of Artsakh Artak Beglaryan stated on Tuesday at the discussion with members of the RA NA Standing Committee on Protection of Human Rights and Public Affairs.

“I cannot insist that this discrimination concerns only Artsakh as other unrecognized countries experience the same attitude. This approach, however, is unacceptable as the unrecognized countries and especially those in conflict situations are more vulnerable in terms the protection of human rights,” Beglaryan said.

In the Ombudsman’s words, the issue with Artsakh remains complex mostly due to Azerbaijani position rather than the country’s unrecognized status.

“Number of resolutions have been adopted by parliamentary platforms of different international structures, including the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe urging to provide access to those territories, yet the mechanisms of ensuring the access have not been worked out yet. While Artsakh creates no obstacles for the involvement of international organizations even through sending invitations, those structures are reluctant to reconsider their stance mostly out of political considerations,” added Beglaryan.

He next reminded that international human rights organizations failed to visit Artsakh even after the April War in 2016 in the light of the gross human rights violations committed by Azerbaijan.