NGO chief calls for support for mine clearance in Azerbaijan at session of UN Human Rights Council

The head of the Legal Analysis and Research Public Union Ramil Isgandarli, during the annual high-level panel discussion at the 55th session of the UN Human Rights Council, called on the international community to support Azerbaijan's mine clearance efforts.

According to Report, the NGO chief recalled that hundreds of civilians in Azerbaijan were injured in mine explosions.

Armenia's ongoing mine terror against Azerbaijan and the provision of unreliable mine maps impede the process of returning former Azerbaijani internally displaced persons to their native lands and violate their rights to freedom of movement, health, work and education, said the head of the NGO with consultative status of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) .

He stated that non-governmental organizations play an important role in implementing programs to support persons with disabilities.

"After the end of the war, it became known that about one and a half million mines and unexploded ordnance were installed in the territories liberated from occupation," said Ramil Isgandarli, emphasizing that the problem of people who became disabled as a result of mine explosions is not a political, but a humanitarian issue.

"Many NGOs in Azerbaijan are engaged in humanitarian demining, providing rehabilitation services, including physical and psychosocial support to mine victims. However, international support for demining our territories is very small. I believe that there should be more international support, and we must mobilize our efforts to combat this problem," Isgandarli noted.