BAKU, Azerbaijan, October 6. The issue of Azerbaijan's missing citizens and the landmine problem have been discussed at the OSCE 2026 Warsaw Human Dimension Conference, being held in Warsaw, on October 5-15, 2026.
This was reported by the "Center for the Promotion of Human Rights” Public Union.
According to the report, Nazrin Aliyeva, Deputy Chairperson of the Board of the "Center for the Promotion of Human Rights" Public Union, who participated in the conference, delivered a speech on October 5 at the first plenary session dedicated to the topic "Humanitarian Issues I."
In her speech, she noted that addressing the severe humanitarian consequences of armed conflicts requires strict adherence to the norms of international humanitarian law and ensuring accountability for violations committed.
“The fact that the fate of missing persons remains unknown continues to be a grave humanitarian tragedy. Nearly 4,000 Azerbaijanis are still considered missing following the occupation of Azerbaijani territories by Armenia in the early 1990s. The discovery of mass graves in Azerbaijan’s liberated territories reveals harrowing evidence of systematic violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law, including acts of torture. Consequently, thousands of families have remained unaware of the fate of their loved ones for over 30 years. Armenia must provide Azerbaijan with the coordinates of the locations of mass graves.
The extensive contamination of formerly occupied territories with landmines continues to pose a direct and lethal threat to the lives of the civilian population. These mines pose a serious obstacle to the safe and dignified return of hundreds of thousands of internally displaced persons to their native lands, while also hindering the necessary post-conflict recovery and reconstruction process. The failure to provide complete and accurate maps of minefields remains a serious humanitarian issue.
We would like to draw attention to the deliberate and large-scale destruction, as well as the erasure of traces, of the cultural, historical, and religious heritage belonging to the Azerbaijani people, both in the territories formerly under occupation and within the territory of Armenia itself. The systematic destruction of cultural heritage and the falsification of its historical origins constitute serious violations of international legal norms regarding the protection of cultural property during armed conflicts.
Azerbaijan calls upon the OSCE and its international partners to demand full accountability for the violations committed, to support efforts to clarify the fate of missing persons, and to engage in comprehensive cooperation regarding mine clearance," added Valiyeva.
