{"id":968,"date":"2025-03-20T20:27:14","date_gmt":"2025-03-20T20:27:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/freearmenianhostages.net\/?p=968"},"modified":"2025-03-24T20:39:33","modified_gmt":"2025-03-24T20:39:33","slug":"wcc-delivers-statement-at-un-human-rights-council-on-armenian-prisoners-in-azerbaijan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/freearmenianhostages.net\/?p=968","title":{"rendered":"WCC delivers statement at UN Human Rights Council on Armenian prisoners in Azerbaijan"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-small-font-size\"><em>The WCC statement on the human rights situation of Armenian hostages was delivered by Prof. Dr Ani Ghazaryan Drissi, programme executive of WCC Ecumenical Theological Education.\u00a0<\/em>Photo:<em>\u00a0UN WebTV screenshot<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><em>The World Council of Churches (WCC) delivered a statement on the human rights situation of Armenian hostages at the 58th Regular Session of the UN Human Rights Council.\u00a0<\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The statement was delivered by Prof. Dr Ani Ghazaryan Drissi, programme executive of WCC Ecumenical Theological Education.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe World Council of Churches expresses deep concern over the continued unlawful detention of Armenian individuals by Azerbaijan,\u201d reads the statement. &#8220;The taking and holding of hostages violate fundamental principles of international humanitarian law, including the Geneva Conventions, and constitute a serious breach of human rights.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The statement notes that, from November 2020 \u2013 the date of the&nbsp;\u201cend\u201d of the war \u2014 to October 2023, Azerbaijan illegally captured at least 23 Armenians, including civilians, former and current officials, and military personnel.&nbsp;\u201cMany of them have been subjected to torture and degrading treatment, as documented by human rights organizations,\u201d reads the WCC statement.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe reaffirm that all persons illegally detained must be immediately and unconditionally released,\u201d reads the text.&nbsp;\u201cThe prolonged detention of individuals in violation of due process and legal protections undermines efforts for sustainable peace and reconciliation in the region.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The statement calls on the Human Rights Council to take all available measures to ensure the release of these hostages, and on all parties to fulfil their legal obligations under international law to protect human dignity and ensure justice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe World Council of Churches continues to stand in solidarity with the Armenian Church and people and all those affected by this situation, and reaffirms its commitment to justice and peace,\u201d concludes the statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>The full WCC statement on the Human rights situation of Armenian hostages at the UN HRC58<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The World Council of Churches expresses deep concern over the continued unlawful detention of Armenian individuals by Azerbaijan. The taking and holding of hostages violate fundamental principles of international humanitarian law, including the Geneva Conventions, and constitute a serious breach of human rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>From November 2020 \u2013 the date of the \u201cend\u201d of the war &#8211; to October 2023, Azerbaijan illegally captured at least 23 Armenians, including civilians, former and current officials, and military personnel. Many of them have been subjected to torture and degrading treatment, as documented by human rights organizations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We reaffirm that all persons illegally detained must be immediately and unconditionally released. The prolonged detention of individuals in violation of due process and legal protections undermines efforts for sustainable peace and reconciliation in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We call on the Human Rights Council to take all available measures to ensure the release of these hostages, and on all parties to fulfil their legal obligations under international law to protect human dignity and ensure justice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The World Council of Churches continues to stand in solidarity with the Armenian Church and people and all those affected by this situation, and reaffirms its commitment to justice and peace.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The WCC statement on the human rights situation of Armenian hostages was delivered by Prof. Dr Ani Ghazaryan Drissi, programme executive of WCC Ecumenical Theological Education.\u00a0Photo:\u00a0UN WebTV screenshot The World Council of Churches (WCC) delivered a statement on the human rights situation of Armenian hostages at the 58th Regular Session of the UN Human Rights [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":969,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,12,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-968","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-advocacy","category-english","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/freearmenianhostages.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/968","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/freearmenianhostages.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/freearmenianhostages.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freearmenianhostages.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freearmenianhostages.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=968"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/freearmenianhostages.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/968\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":970,"href":"https:\/\/freearmenianhostages.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/968\/revisions\/970"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freearmenianhostages.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/969"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/freearmenianhostages.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=968"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freearmenianhostages.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=968"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freearmenianhostages.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=968"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}