CE Commissioner for Human Rights to respond to N. Zohrabian’s inquiry

The Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights has received the inquiry put by Armenian parliamentary deputy, member of the Armenian delegation to PACE Ms. Naira Zohrabian concerning the Armenian POWs held in Azerbaijan. Naira Zohrabian told the correspondent of Aysor.am that answers to the questions will be ready by April 7, the start of the PACE spring session.

When asked if she hopes to get an irrefragable answer, N. Zohrabian replied that the Commissioner for Human Rights has so far said that he has no relevant mandate that the International Committee of the Red Cross has.

“Ay the recent meeting of the PACE Committee on Migration, Refugees and Displaced Persons in Paris, I proposed making amendments to the PACE regulations,” she noted.

“We should admit that in many cases the ICRC’s efforts are not enough because Azerbaijan torpedoes the ICRC’s work in its territory where the Armenian captives – both servicemen and civilians are kept. It is absurd that the CE Commissioner for Human Rights has no such mandate”, Naira Zohrabian said.

According to her, if Azerbaijan or any other country, where there is a problem of captives and missing persons, is a member of the Council of Europe and has ratified all international agreements on captives, POWs and missing persons, then the PACE should have a mandate so as to demand their answers to questions.