BAKU - Azerbaijan has called on Armenia to provide accurate and detailed information about missing Azerbaijanis and the locations of individual and mass burial sites, saying cooperation could ease families’ suffering and help build trust for a lasting peace.
The appeal was made Oct. 8 at the Fourth International Conference held under the Baku Dialogue on Missing Persons.
Gazanfar Ahmadov, secretary of Azerbaijan’s State Commission on Prisoners of War, Hostages and Missing Persons, said reliable information is essential for searches and that coordinated work can accelerate the identification of remains.
Ahmadov said international humanitarian law requires parties to take all feasible measures to clarify the fate of people missing during armed conflict and to provide families with available information.
Conference Calls for Information Sharing
The conference’s final declaration urged states to share all available information needed to locate and identify missing people, including data on individual and mass burial sites.
It also called for safe, scientifically grounded exhumations; proper documentation and identification of human remains; preservation of evidence; and the return of remains to families.
Participants renewed a proposal to establish a special United Nations mechanism for people missing as a result of armed conflicts. The declaration noted that landmines and unexploded ordnance complicate search operations and called for closer cooperation in forensic science, genetics and modern search technology.
Azerbaijan Reports 4,010 People Missing
In a message to the conference, President Ilham Aliyev said 4,010 Azerbaijanis, including children, women and elderly people, are officially listed as missing and that 32 mass graves have been discovered in territories returned to Azerbaijani control. He said Armenia should provide information on the fate of missing Azerbaijanis, burial locations, archives and witness accounts.
Azerbaijani officials say sharing the information is both a humanitarian obligation and a practical confidence-building measure. Armenian officials have also sought information about their missing citizens, and the two sides have maintained direct contacts between their relevant commissions.
Source: Vesti Baku. Official background: President of Azerbaijan.