Azerbaijan is a sovereign state, and while respecting its decision for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to leave the country, the ICRC nonetheless continued the dialogue and cooperation, which was never stopped.

Daphnée Maret, Head of the ICRC Delegation in Armenia, stated this in an interview with Armenian News-NEWS.am. Responding to the question of whether the ICRC was seeking ways to restore dialogue with Baku following the closure of the ICRC delegation in Azerbaijan and whether this issue has been resolved, the head of the ICRC Delegation in Armenia noted as follows: “As stated, we remained committed to finding avenues to continue the dialogue.

Azerbaijan is a sovereign state, and while respecting its decision for us to leave the country, we nonetheless continued the dialogue and cooperation, which was never stopped. Ultimately, we were able to fulfill the need to address the existing humanitarian issues in which the ICRC can play a role.

This concerns persons protected under international humanitarian law (IHL). On 24-25 December, access was obtained to the Armenians detained in Azerbaijan. The visit took place in accordance with standard ICRC procedures, just as these visits had been conducted before, and to the same extent, before the closure of the delegation in Baku.

The difference is that this visit took place at the level of the ICRC headquarters in Geneva, and our dialogue proceeds at this level with the Azerbaijani authorities. In this regard, the dialogue is aimed not only at people in detention but also at other groups protected by IHL. We are hopeful that our dialogue will continue as well on issues related to missing persons.”