PAPER LAW

These children did not know that they would not have a good morning the next day, when they went to bed preparing for sweet dreams. They did not know that they would die in a moment, when they were playing in the backyard...

The shelling of peaceful Azerbaijani cities by Armenia in the past two months claimed the lives of Fidan Gurbanova, a ninth-grade student of a rural school in the Gashalty Garagoyunlu village of Naftalan, and her cousin, a seventh-grade student, Shahriyar Gurbanov. As a result of a rocket strike, a ninth-grade student of the Taynag village of the Agjabedi region, Farid Iskenderov, was fatally wounded.

The shelling of peaceful Ganja claimed the lives of pupils of school no. 29: 16 y.o. Nigar Askerova, 12 y.o. Orkhan Khalilli, 6 y.o. Maryam Khalilli, 13 y.o. Artur Mayakov, 10-month-old baby Medina Shahnazarova.

During the shelling of the Terter region, a student of a rural school in the village of Khoruzlu, 16 y.o. Orkhan Ismayilzade was killed.

A rocket fired at the village of Garayusifli, Barda killed the 8-year-old Aysa Iskenderova.

Shell of the village of Yeni Eyrij, Barda killed the 16-year-old Shahmal Rahimov, a pupil of the Agdam school no. 94 for refugees in Barda.

The children who survived received injuries of varying severity. Four of them became orphans, having lost both parents. These children lived in cities that were outside the war zone. They had the right to live, to dream, to live with their parents. They had the right to a peaceful and cloudless sky, the right to become adults. At the same time, the international community, which should have called Yerevan to account, only made statements on these inhuman crimes, thus condoning the Armenian night bombings.

Double bottom right

Let's imagine that all these events happened, for example, in one of the peaceful cities in Europe. It is not difficult to predict what the international reaction would be, including the statements by European human rights defenders, leaders of the countries of the ‘progressive’ world. Condemnation, sanctions and so on... Interestingly, the Convention on the Rights of the Child turned 30 years old on November 20. Thirty years of the Karabakh conflict and thirty years of the convention adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1990, which describes the fundamental rights of the child and, most importantly, their right to live. A coincidence that only brings a bitter smile.

What if these were Armenian children? The conclusion is clear. Yes, that's right - double standards are applied in international law.

No!

Azerbaijan does not wish the same to any country in the world. The Azerbaijani army did not kill Armenian children, did not bomb the residences of Armenians living in Azerbaijan, schools, kindergartens, hospitals. We wish no harm to anyone. We fought on our lands, implementing the UN Security Council resolutions. When our children died, we called for justice, to which all children of the world, including Azerbaijanis, have the right.

But we also know the attitude of the international law toward Azerbaijan. Over the past 30 years, our country has buried babies, toddlers and adolescents killed by the enemy. What is the guilt of the children of Khojaly (63 children) and other occupied regions of Azerbaijan, expelled from their lands, brutally murdered by Armenian terrorists? It is impossible to forget or forgive. Facts are stubborn. What is the purpose of the Convention on the Rights of the Child if it is not equal for everyone? Which international organizations should monitor compliance with the convention? Yerevan has grossly violated international agreements, including the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. But not a single international legal organization has called for tough sanctions against Armenia.

It is no secret that the law regulating the socio-cultural life of peoples makes our world civilized, protecting us from the use of primitive animal reflexes. But at the same time, the laws are not simply limited only to ‘positive’ implications defining human and civil rights and freedoms. They also administer justice to those who violate it. Why do not legal organizations try to find and bring to the international tribunal those who ordered the murder of the children in Khojaly and bombing of the civilian population of Azerbaijan?

What's next?

UNICEF's statement on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, which was made after the Armenian rocket attacks on Azerbaijani cities outside the war zone, caused only outrage.

“The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) is concerned about the fate of children in Nagorno-Karabakh and beyond. The fund calls the atrocities against the children monstrous and unacceptable. In addition to the growing number of deaths and injuries among children, dozens of houses and schools were destroyed and damaged.” The death of which children caused the concern of UNICEF, if not that of the Azerbaijani children?

“UNICEF urges the parties to respect the ceasefire. Children, families and the civic infrastructure on which they depend must be protected. An immediate end to hostilities is in the interest of all children.” Well, thanks for that too. But even after these insignificant appeals, Armenia, based on its many years of experience of impunity, continued to bomb Azerbaijani peaceful cities.

In parallel, Human Rights Watch called on Yerevan to immediately stop using cluster munitions when shelling peaceful cities in Azerbaijan. Is that all? What's next?

Where is the adequate response?

The Azerbaijani Ombudsman Sabina Aliyeva, in her report on the Armenian rocket attacks, noted that “such inhuman war crimes in Armenia pose a serious threat to the life and health of the population. This act of aggression should concern international organizations, world powers and national human rights institutions, induce them to make efforts to taking concrete measures to apply legal sanctions against Armenia.”.

According to Mrs. Aliyeva, Armenia's military provocations are violations of fundamental human rights and freedoms, including the right to live in a safe and healthy environment. The report contained an appeal to all international organizations and countries to demand from Yerevan to end the occupation of Azerbaijani territories and to take urgent measures to bring the Armenian authorities to international legal responsibility. Needless to say that international organizations did not respond again...

Sabina Aliyeva's report was sent to the UN Secretary General, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, the leaders of the UN Human Rights Council, UNICEF, UNESCO, the leaders of the European Union, the Council of Europe, the OSCE, international and European ombudsmen institutions, the Association Asian Ombudsmen, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the Association of Ombudsmen of the member states of this organization, the Independent Permanent Commission on Human Rights of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the European Network of Ombudsmen for the Rights of the Child, the International Peace Bureau, ombudsmen of various countries and national human rights institutions. And we are still waiting for their response and real action.

At the same time, Assistant to the First Vice President of Azerbaijan Elchin Amirbeyov said that the lack of an adequate international response to rocket attacks on cities outside the combat zone “encourages Armenia to launch new attacks on peaceful cities in Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan does not understand and does not accept the neutral position of a number of countries on the issue of shelling peaceful cities located far from the combat zone,” Mr. Amirbeyov said.

Only our victory

When we won the patriotic war for Karabakh, we began to understand that it is our responsibility to demand justice from Yerevan. Armenia’s withdrawal of its troops from the occupied Azerbaijani territories suggests that the hour of justice has come. Why do we need international law if it discredited itself during the second Karabakh war? Answer: in order to tirelessly point out on all international platforms that Armenia is a criminal country; to make sure that Armenian criminals, including the propagandist of Armenian terrorism Zoriy Balayan, appear before the international Hague tribunal. We believe that for the sake of a future progressive and enlightened world, a world without terror and child deaths, the justice of international law (yet on paper) will prevail.

The victory’s toll tag is big enough. In addition to children, 27 women, 53 men, and 15 elderly people have died; of the 400 injured, 14 are children, 36 are minors, 101 are women, 249 are men, including 45 elderly, since the beginning of the second Karabakh war. In addition, 428 civilian facilities, 92 apartment buildings and 2,442 private houses have become unusable.

The time has come

Do you remember Time to Kill, a 1996 thriller based on the novel by John Grisham. Two white men raped a black girl and tried to hang her. Both were captured and arrested. The state of Mississippi does not carry the death penalty for rape. The perpetrators will serve only a long prison term (10 years). But after some time, they have a chance to be pardoned. The father of the raped girl, Carl Lee Haley is not happy. The former Vietnam War veteran lurks in the courtroom and shoots both rapists. Now Carl faces execution in a gas chamber. The case of the cold-blooded murder by a black man of two white men in the southern US town of Clanton causes a political turmoil. Black rights activists and Ku Klux Klan fighters gather in sleepy Clanton, trying to make the jury adopt a verdict favorable to politicians.

The only chance for defense attorney Jake Brigens is to prove Carl insane at the time of the murder. However, an expert psychiatrist for the defense falls into the trap of the accusation - it turns out that he was charged with rape in the past. There is practically no hope for an acquittal from the defense, all legal means have been exhausted. However, Brigens manages to win the jury in his last heartfelt speech, asking them to imagine a BLACK girl in place of a WHITE one. The jury hands down an acquittal. Carl Lee is free.