The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination today issued findings on Azerbaijan, Benin, Nicaragua, Slovakia, Suriname, the United States of America and Zimbabwe after reviewing the States parties in its latest session.

The findings contain the Committee's main concerns and recommendations on the implementation of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, as well as positive aspects.

The UN committee has also recommended Azerbaijan to conduct investigations of human violations amid Karabakh conflict.

“In light of the hostilities that erupted in and around Nagorno-Karabakh in 2020 and beyond, the Committee was deeply concerned about allegations of grave human rights violations committed by the Azerbaijani military forces against prisoners of war and other protected persons of Armenian ethnic or national origin. It was also disturbed by reports on the destruction of Armenian cultural heritage, including churches, monuments, landmarks and cemeteries. It recommended that the State party conduct thorough and impartial investigations of all human violations and strengthen its efforts to ensure accountability and end impunity.

Regarding stateless people, the Committee recommended that the State party strengthen its efforts to resolve the remaining cases of statelessness. It asked Azerbaijan to develop and adopt a legislative framework for statelessness determination procedure, to enable all stateless persons, without discrimination, to have their status ascertained and obtain identity documents,” the committee noted.