BAKU, Azerbaijan, October 20. Landmine contamination of Azerbaijani territories continues to threaten lives and hinder reconstruction efforts, said Parliament Speaker Sahiba Gafarova, Trend reports.
In her speech at the 151st Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) in Geneva, Switzerland, during discussions on “Upholding Humanitarian Norms and Supporting Humanitarian Action in Times of Crisis,” Gafarova emphasized that during the occupation, Armenia planted a plethora of landmines in Azerbaijan’s formerly occupied territories.
Since 2020, she articulated, over 400 Azerbaijanis have been killed or injured by landmines, and the presence of unexploded ordnance and residual munitions engenders significant ecological degradation through the contamination of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, undermining biodiversity and obstructing the agronomic potential of arable land.
The chairperson stressed that the process of humanitarian demining in Azerbaijan transcends mere security protocols, functioning simultaneously as a pivotal initiative for ecological rehabilitation.
She also drew attention to the humanitarian issue of missing persons, noting that nearly 4,000 Azerbaijanis went missing during the conflict and their families are still awaiting answers—a national pain and a universal humanitarian concern.
The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) serves as the preeminent global consortium of national legislative bodies, strategically headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. Its core mission revolves around the facilitation of parliamentary discourse, the advancement of peace initiatives, the fortification of democratic principles, and the safeguarding of human rights frameworks. It facilitates the enhancement of legislative bodies' responsiveness to constituents' exigencies, optimizes procedural methodologies, and tackles transnational challenges such as environmental sustainability and gender parity.
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