International legal rights of the Azerbaijani IDPs and the responsibility of Armenia

32 Pages·2012·0.24 MB·English

by  United Nations

A/66/787
S/2012/289

Annex to the letter dated 30 April 2012 from the Permanent
Representative of Azerbaijan to the United Nations addressed to
the Secretary-General

Report on the international legal rights of the Azerbaijani
internally displaced persons1 and the Republic of
Armenia’s responsibility

1. The present report addresses the following issues:
(a) The violation of the rights of the citizens of the Republic of Azerbaijan
by their forcible displacement (or expulsion or deportation) from the occupied
territories of the Republic of Azerbaijan (Nagorno-Karabakh2 and surrounding
areas) by the armed forces of the Republic of Armenia or by subordinate forces for
which it is internationally responsible;
(b) The violation of the principle of non-discrimination in regard to
Azerbaijani internally displaced persons, including the implantation of ethnic
Armenian settlers in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan;
(c) The prevention of access of Azerbaijani internally displaced persons to
their property in the occupied territories by Armenia and those for whom it is
responsible;
(d) The right of return of Azerbaijani internally displaced persons to their
homes in internationally recognized territory of the Republic of Azerbaijan;
(e) The consequences flowing from the violation of the rights of the
Azerbaijani internally displaced persons, including restitution and compensation.

I. Preliminary issues

A. The Constitutional background

2. It is helpful at this stage to lay out some of the key facts underpinning the legal
situation to be discussed in this paper. Both Armenia and Azerbaijan existed as
republics within the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) from the early
1920s with Nagorno-Karabakh possessing the status of an autonomous oblast
(NKAO) within the Soviet Socialist Republic of Azerbaijan (Azerbaijan SSR) as
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1 It is to be emphasized that this paper does not deal at all with the rights of refugees under
international law (that is, displaced persons who have crossed an international frontier), but
confines itself to the rights of internally displaced persons within the framework of the
internationally recognized territory of the Republic of Azerbaijan which is currently occupied by
the Republic of Armenia.
2 The term “Nagorno-Karabakh” (or “Nagorny Karabakh” or Nagorno Karabakh) is a Russian
translation of the original name in the Azerbaijani language — Dağlıq Qarabağ (pronounced
Daghlyq Garabagh), which literally means mountainous Garabagh. Garabagh in its turn consists
of two Azerbaijani words: “qara” (black) and “bağ” (garden). In order to avoid confusion the
widely referred terms “Nagorno Karabakh”, “Nagorny Karabakh” or “Karabakh” will be used
here, as appropriate.
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from 1923.3 The present-day stage of the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan
began at the end of 19874 with the former’s overt territorial claims on Nagorno-
Karabakh and the attacks on the Azerbaijanis both in the autonomous oblast and
Armenia itself. These actions marked the beginning of the expulsion of Azerbaijanis
from the Armenian SSR and Nagorno-Karabakh, as well as initiated taking a number
of illegal decisions aimed at unilateral secession of the NKAO from the Azerbaijan
SSR. On 20 February 1988, the members of the Armenian community represented in
the local self-government institutions of the NKAO adopted a resolution seeking the
transfer of the autonomous oblast from the Azerbaijan SSR to the Armenian SSR
(within the USSR). This was accepted by the Armenian SSR on 15 June 1988, but
was rejected by the Azerbaijan SSR two days previously and again on 17 June 1988.
3. On 12 July 1988, the members of the Armenian community of the NKAO
adopted a decision on the unilateral secession of the autonomous oblast from the
Azerbaijan SSR. Azerbaijan rejected that decision the same day, declaring it null
and void.
4. On 18 July 1988, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, the body
with the primary relevant authority, made a formal decision to leave the NKAO
within the Azerbaijan SSR. In other words, it was confirmed that Nagorno-Karabakh
formed part of the Azerbaijan SSR.
5. On 1 December 1989, the Supreme Soviet of the Armenian SSR passed a
resolution calling for the unification of Armenia with Nagorno-Karabakh. However,
on 10 January 1990, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR adopted a
resolution on the “Nonconformity With the USSR Constitution of the Acts on
Nagorno-Karabakh Adopted by the Armenian SSR Supreme Soviet on 1 December
1989 and 9 January 1990”, declaring the illegality of the claimed unification of the
Armenian SSR with Nagorno-Karabakh without the consent of the Azerbaijan SSR.
6. On 2 September 1991, the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh adopted a
“Declaration of Independence of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic” (“NKR”). This
was declared invalid by Azerbaijan and on 27 November 1991 by the USSR State
Council and the following day by the USSR Committee of the Constitutional Oversight.
However, the Armenian side did not cease its unlawful and provocative actions. Thus, a
“referendum on independence” was held in Nagorno-Karabakh on 10 December 1991
(without the support or consent of Azerbaijan of which it legally constituted a part),
which was confirmed two days later by an “Act on the Results of the Referendum on
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3 On 7 July 1923, the Central Executive Committee of the Azerbaijan SSR adopted a Decree “On
the Formation of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast”. Nagorno-Karabakh as an
autonomous oblast within the Azerbaijan SSR was referred in the USSR Constitutions of 1936
(art. 24) and 1977 (art. 87), while its legal status was governed by the Law “On the Nagorno-
Karabakh Autonomous Oblast” adopted by the Supreme Soviet of the Azerbaijan SSR on 16 June
1981. See also Thomas de Waal, Black Garden: Armenia and Azerbaijan through Peace and War,
New York, 2003; Svante E. Cornell, “The Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict”, 1999, Report No. 46,
Department of East European Studies, University of Uppsala; International Crisis Group,
“Nagorno-Karabakh: Viewing the Conflict From the Ground”, Europe Report No. 166,
14 September 2005.
4 According to Thomas de Waal, as early as in February 1986 one activist of the separatist
movement, Muradian, travelled to Moscow from Yerevan “with a draft letter that he persuaded
nine respected Soviet Armenian Communist Party members and scientists to sign” with the
purpose of separation of Nagorno-Karabakh from Azerbaijan and its annexation to Armenia,
op. cit., pp. 17-20.
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the Independence of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic”. On 28 December that year,
“parliamentary elections” were held there and on 6 January 1992, the newly convened
“parliament” of the separatist entity adopted a “Declaration of Independence”,
followed two days later by the adoption of a “Constitutional Law ‘On Basic
Principles of the State Independence of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic’”. Thus,
the process of unilateral secession from Azerbaijan was instituted.
7. Azerbaijan had declared independence on 18 October 1991. This was confirmed
on 29 December 1991 by a nationwide referendum. On 8 December 1991, a formal
declaration was made by the States-founders of the USSR that “the Union of Soviet
Socialist Republics as a subject of international law and a geopolitical reality no
longer exists”.5
8. Armenia’s view is that following the collapse of the USSR, on the territory of
the former Azerbaijan SSR two States were formed: the Republic of Azerbaijan and
the “Nagorno-Karabakh Republic” and that “[t]he establishment of both States has
similar legal basis”.6
9. However, this approach is fundamentally flawed. The critical period for the
purposes of the legitimate inheritance of territorial frontiers (the principle of uti
possidetis) is the period immediately preceding independence. The International
Court has made this very clear. In Burkina Faso/Mali, for example, the Court
declared that:7
“The essence of this principle [uti possidetis] lies in its primary aim of securing
respect for the territorial boundaries at the moment when independence is
achieved” (emphasis added).
10. What mattered, therefore, from the point of view of international law, was the
frontier “which existed at the moment of independence”.8 The position in this
regard as far as Azerbaijan (including Nagorno-Karabakh) and Armenia are
concerned is clear. On the eve of the independence of Azerbaijan, the unlawfulness
within the Soviet legal system of any attempts aimed at either unification of
Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia or its secession from Azerbaijan without
Azerbaijan’s consent was confirmed at the highest constitutional level. Azerbaijan
did not so consent, so that the definition of the territory of Azerbaijan as it
proceeded to independence and in the light of the applicable law clearly included
Nagorno-Karabakh. Accordingly, Azerbaijan was entitled to come to independence
within the territorial boundaries that it was recognized as having as the Azerbaijan
SSR within the USSR.
11. The factual basis for the operation of the legal principle of uti possidetis is
beyond dispute in this case. It follows from this that Armenia’s claims as to the
claimed “independence” of Nagorno-Karabakh or its unification with Armenia are
contrary to the internationally accepted principle of uti possidetis and therefore
unsustainable in international law.
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5 Agreement Establishing the Commonwealth of Independent States, 8 December 1991,
31 International Legal Materials 143 (1992).
6 See e.g. United Nations document A/63/781-S/2009/156, 24 March 2009, p. 11, para. 43.
7 ICJ Reports, 1986, pp. 554, 566. This was reaffirmed in El Salvador/Honduras, ICJ Reports,
1992, pp. 351, 386-7.
8 Ibid., p. 570.
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12. In contrast to what Armenia asserts in regard to “NKR”, almost from their very
inception, the Republics of Armenia and Azerbaijan committed themselves — like
other parties to the Alma-Ata Declaration of 21 December 1991 — to: “Recognizing
and respecting each other’s territorial integrity and the inviolability of existing
borders”.9 The 1993 Charter of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), to
which both Armenia and Azerbaijan are parties, stresses, in article 3, the principle of
“inviolability of State frontiers, recognition of existing frontiers and renouncement
of illegal acquisition of territories”.10 Indubitably, a firm stand was taken by all the
States members of CIS, to retain their former administrative (intra-State) borders as
their inter-State frontiers following the dissolution of the USSR.11
13. The Security Council of the United Nations explicitly referred in its
resolutions 853 (1993), 874 (1993) and 884 (1993), adopted in response to the
occupation of the territories of Azerbaijan, to “the conflict in and around the
Nagorny Karabakh region of the Azerbaijani Republic”, while “Reaffirming the
sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Azerbaijani Republic and of all other
States in the region”, as well as “the inviolability of international borders”. Similar
language had been used earlier in resolution 822 (1993). United Nations General
Assembly resolution 62/243 of 14 March 2008 is phrased along the same lines:
“Reaffirms continued respect and support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity
of the Republic of Azerbaijan within its internationally recognized borders”. The
European Court of Human Rights has recently concluded that “the ‘NKR’ is not
recognized as a State under international law by any countries or international
organizations”.12
14. The situation following the independence of Azerbaijan and actions of
Armenia is also clear. Any attempt by Armenia to encourage, procure or sustain the
secession of Nagorno-Karabakh is simply unlawful in international law as
amounting to a violation of the principle of the respect for the territorial integrity of
sovereign States and imports the responsibility of that State.13

B. Armenia’s intervention and continuing occupation: the
fundamental facts

15. The fact that Armenian forces seized the territories of Azerbaijan, including
but not limited to the Nagorno-Karabakh area, has been well evidenced. For example,
in its Fact Sheet on the History of the Minsk Conference, dated 30 March 2001, the
United States Department of State wrote that:
__________________
9 Alma-Ata Declaration, 1991, 31 International Legal Materials 147, 148 (1992).
10 Charter of the Commonwealth of Independent States, 1993, 34 International Legal Materials
1279, 1283 (1995).
11 See Steven R. Ratner, “Drawing a Better Line: Uti Possidetis and the Borders of New States”,
90 American Journal of International Law 590, 597 (1996).
12 Elkhan Chiragov and Others v Armenia, ECHR Judgement of 14 December 2011, para. 102.
13 See e.g. the following reports: “The Legal Consequences of the Armed Aggression of the
Republic of Armenia Against the Republic of Azerbaijan”, United Nations document A/63/662-
S/2008/812, 24 December 2008; “The Fundamental Norm of the Territorial Integrity of States
and the Right to Self-determination in the Light of Armenia’s Revisionist Claims”, United
Nations document A/63/664-S/2008/823, 29 December 2008; “The International Legal
Responsibilities of Armenia as the Belligerent Occupier of Azerbaijani Territory”, United
Nations document A/63/692-S/2009/51, 27 January 2009.
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“In May 1992, Armenian and Karabakhi forces seized Susha (the historical,
Azerbaijani-populated capital of the region) and Lachin (thereby linking N-K to
Armenia). By October 1993 Armenian and Karabakhi forces eventually succeeded
in occupying almost all of N-K, Lachin and large areas in southwestern
Azerbaijan. As Armenian and Karabakhi forces advanced, hundreds of
thousands of Azerbaijani refugees fled to other parts of Azerbaijan”.14
16. In the report of the Political Affairs Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly
of the Council of Europe concerning “The Conflict over the Nagorno-Karabakh
Region Dealt with by the OSCE Minsk Conference”, dated 29 November 2004, it
was emphasized that: “Armenians from Armenia had participated in the armed
fighting over the Nagorno-Karabakh region besides local Armenians from within
Azerbaijan”.15
17. Further, the Human Rights Watch report entitled “Seven Years of Conflict in
Nagorno-Karabakh” published in 1994 refers at several points to the involvement of
forces from Armenia in the conflict with Azerbaijan including the statement of an
ICRC official16 and concluded that: “While Armenia has supported Karabakh forces
since the beginning of the conflict, evidence gathered by Human Rights Watch/
Helsinki establishes the involvement of the Armenian army as part of its assigned
duties in the conflict, especially since December 1993”.17 This report also refers to
testimony from Armenian prisoners of war as evidencing that Armenian army units
were sent into Nagorno-Karabakh in 1993-4.18 This included an interview with one
Armenian draftee who said that he had been sent to Lachin in April 1993.19 The
report concluded by stating that: “As a matter of law, Armenian troop involvement in
Azerbaijan makes Armenia a party to the conflict and makes the war an international
armed conflict, as between the government of Armenia and Azerbaijan”.20
18. The Secretary-General of the United Nations stated in his 1993 report to the
Security Council: “Reports of the use of heavy weaponry, such as T-72 tanks, Mi-24
helicopter gunships and advanced fixed-wing aircraft are particularly disturbing and
would seem to indicate the involvement of more than local ethnic forces”.21 Indeed,
the Representative of the Secretary-General noted in his report dated 25 January
1999 that: “It is generally accepted that the Karabakh Armenian cause has received
considerable economic and military support from Armenia and the ethnic Armenian
diaspora”.22
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14 United States Department of State: Fact Sheet on the History of the Minsk Conference, issued
on 30 March 2001.
15 Document 10364. Explanatory Memorandum by the Rapporteur (David Atkinson), part III, para. 6.
16 www.hrw.org/en/reports/1994/12/01/seven-years-conflict-nagorno-karabakh, at pp. 31-32. See
also p. 49.
17 Ibid., at p. 67.
18 Ibid., pp. 68-72.
19 Ibid., at p. 72.
20 Ibid., at p. 73.
21 Report of the United Nations Secretary-General pursuant to the statement of the President of the
Security Council in connection with the situation relating to Nagorny-Karabakh, United Nations
document S/25600, 14 April 1993, para. 10.
22 Report of the Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General, Francis M. Deng,
“Profiles in Displacement: Azerbaijan”, United Nations document E/CN.4/1999/79/Add.1,
25 January 1999, p. 8, para. 23.
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19. This clear intervention in the territory and domestic affairs of an independent
sovereign State did not, however, end with the ceasefire negotiated at Bishkek on
5 May 1994. Mounting evidence demonstrates the grip that Armenia continues to
have upon Nagorno-Karabakh and the other occupied territories of Azerbaijan that
had been seized during the conflict.
20. The United States Department of State, in its human rights report on Armenia
for 2006, declared that: “Armenia continues to occupy the Azerbaijani territory of
Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding Azerbaijani territories”.23 The equivalent
report on Azerbaijan noted that: “Armenian forces controlled most of Nagorno-
Karabakh, as well as large portions of adjacent Azerbaijani territory”24 and
“Armenia continues to occupy the Azerbaijani territory of Nagorno-Karabakh and
seven surrounding Azerbaijani territories”.25
21. In the above-mentioned 2004 Report of the Political Affairs Committee of the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe concerning the conflict, it was
further noted that: “Today, Armenia has soldiers stationed in the Nagorno-Karabakh
region and the surrounding districts, people in the region have passports of Armenia,
and the Armenian Government transfers large budgetary resources to this area”.26
22. In its report on presidential elections held in Armenia on 16 and 30 March
1998, the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights of the Organization
for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) declared that: “it is of extreme
concern that one of the mobile boxes has crossed the national border of the Republic
of Armenia to collect votes of Armenian soldiers stationed abroad (Kelbajar)”.27 In
other words, that Armenian troops are based in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan
is acknowledged by international observers and formally reported by OSCE.
Further, such troops were permitted by Armenia to participate in the presidential
elections of March 1998.
23. Documents emanating from the Minsk Conference — the OSCE process which
is aimed at providing an ongoing forum for discussions towards a negotiated settlement
of the conflict — also demonstrate the existence of Armenian soldiers in the occupied
territories. For example, the “package” proposal of July 1997 contained a
requirement in Agreement I on the end of hostilities, that “The armed forces of
Armenia will be withdrawn to within the borders of the Republic of Armenia”,28
while the “step-by-step” proposals of December 1997 provided that “All Armenian
forces located outside of the borders of the Republic of Armenia will be withdrawn
to locations within those borders”29 and the “common State” proposal of November
1998 similarly contained a requirement that “All armed forces of Armenia deployed
outside of the borders of the Republic of Armenia will be withdrawn to within those
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23 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, 2006, Armenia, sect. 1 (a).
24 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, 2006, Azerbaijan, introductory section.
25 Ibid., sect. 1 (a).
26 Explanatory memorandum by the Rapporteur (David Atkinson), op. cit, part III, para. 6.
27 Final report issued on 9 April 1998, p. 8. The footnote to this sentence notes that “This sentence
was changed on April 15, 1998, to read as follows: Moreover it is of extreme concern that one of
the mobile boxes has crossed the national border of the Republic of Armenia to collect votes of
Armenian soldiers posted in the region of Kelbajar”. Kelbajar is in the occupied territory of
Azerbaijan.
28 Unofficial translation from the Russian original, reproduced in the key texts section of Accord,
2005, published by Conciliation Resources, at p. 77.
29 Ibid., p. 79.
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borders”.30 Such provisions would not have been laid down in the absence of the
deployment of Armenian forces within the occupied areas of Azerbaijan.
24. Various NGO reports attest to the presence of Republic of Armenia forces in
Nagorno-Karabakh and other occupied territories of the Republic of Azerbaijan. The
International Crisis Group Report of 14 September 2005, for example, concluded
that there was a high degree of integration between the forces of Armenia and
Nagorno-Karabakh and that substantial weaponry, equipment and training was
provided by Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh.31 The European Court of Human
Rights has concluded that Republic of Armenia forces serve in the occupied areas
and indeed that the detention, questioning and prosecution of such soldiers took
place in the occupied territories.32
25. Instances of non-combat violence among Armenian military personnel serving
in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan also provide a solid piece of evidence
testifying to this country’s military presence on those territories. Several incidents
that took place in recent times and were acknowledged by the Ministry of Defence
of the Republic of Armenia revealed that the servicemen involved had the Republic
of Armenia’s citizenship, were drafted into that country’s armed forces and assigned
to serve in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan by the Republic of Armenia’s
Military Registration and Enlistment Office.33
26. To summarize: Armenian soldiers drafted into the Republic of Armenia’s
armed forces by that country’s Military Registration and Enlistment Office are
assigned to serve in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan;34 Armenian soldiers
serving in the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh have voted in Republic of Armenia
elections;35 Armenian residents of Nagorno-Karabakh travelling abroad use
Armenian passports;36 Nagorno-Karabakh “is closely tied to Armenia and highly
dependant on its financial inputs. All transactions are done via Armenia and
products produced in Nagorno-Karabakh often are labelled ‘made in Armenia’ for
export. Yerevan provides half the budget” so that “Nagorno-Karabakh is highly
dependent on external financial support, primarily from Armenia”;37 while the same
persons often hold high political offices, including the highest, at different times
both in Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia. Indeed, the current President of Armenia
served for four years as head of the “NKR Self-Defence Forces Committee” from
1989 to 1993,38 while the previous President had been “President of the NKR” in
the three preceding years.39 Finally, the Government of Armenia has encouraged
and facilitated the settlement of ethnic Armenian settlers within the occupied
__________________
30 Ibid., p. 83.
31 International Crisis Group Report of 14 September 2005, op. cit., p. 10.
32 Haratyunyan v Armenia, ECHR Judgement of 28 June 2007, paras. 4, 5 and 17, in particular;
and Zalyan, Sargsyan and Serobyan v Armenia, ECHR Judgement of 11 October 2007, pp. 2, 3
and 11, in particular.
33 See e.g. United Nations documents A/65/601-S/2010/615, 7 December 2010; A/65/808-
S/2011/226, 11 April 2011; A/66/528-S/2011/668, 27 October 2011.
34 See above, paras. 21, 24 and 25.
35 See above, para. 22.
36 See above, para. 21.
37 International Crisis Group Report of 14 September 2005, op. cit., p. 12.
38 See www.president.am/president/biography/eng/.
39 See www.president.am/library/presidents/eng/?president=2.
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territories. There is significant third party evidence of this practice, which clearly
demonstrates and manifests the exercise of effective control by Armenia.40
27. Accordingly, not only was the Republic of Armenia’s role as the aggressor
clear but the level of its continuing control over Nagorno-Karabakh and other
occupied territories of the Republic of Azerbaijan is significant, and these actions
entail State responsibility under international law. To these legal issues, we now turn.

C. The applicable law

28. A key preliminary question is that of the applicable law. As has been seen
above, until the moment of Azerbaijan’s independence the relevant law in relation to
the status of territorial areas was the constitutional law of the USSR. At the moment
of independence, the position with regard to the USSR, as has been seen, was
incontrovertible: Nagorno-Karabakh formed part of the Azerbaijan SSR. Any attempt
to change this established legal position without the consent of the Azerbaijan SSR
would constitute a violation of Soviet constitutional law. After independence, the
applicable law insofar as Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity (as protected through the
transitional norm of uti possidetis) is concerned is that of international law. This is
particularly so with regard to third States, such as Armenia.
29. The full range of international legal principles is thus applicable to the
situation concerning the territories of Azerbaijan currently under the occupation of
Armenia: that is, Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding territories seized during
the armed conflict of the early 1990s. Such legal principles include those relating to
the use of force; international humanitarian law; international human rights law and
international responsibility.
30. However, in addition to the general application of public international law,
both Azerbaijan and Armenia are member States of the Council of Europe41 and
High Contracting Parties to the European Convention on Human Rights.42 The
Convention thus constitutes lex specialis for these States insofar as human rights
issues are concerned. This adds a further layer of applicable law, incorporating both
rights and duties, with regard to Azerbaijan and Armenia. It also adds an additional
dimension in the context of remedial action.

D. Armenia’s responsibility

31. That Armenia bears international responsibility for the actions and omissions
of itself and of subordinate forces for which it is liable under international law is
self-evident and forms the cornerstone of this paper. Such responsibility is
established both under general international law and, more particularly, with regard
to the provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights.

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40 See United States Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, World Refugee Survey 2002,
Country Report on Armenia.
41 Both Armenia and Azerbaijan acceded to the Council of Europe on 25 January 2001; see
www.coe.int/aboutCoe/index.asp?page=47pays1europe&l=en.
42 Armenia ratified the Convention on 26 April 2002 and Azerbaijan on 15 April 2002.
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1. Under general international law

32. The key provisions of international responsibility are laid down in the articles
on State responsibility adopted by the United Nations International Law
Commission (“ILC”) on 9 August 200143 and commended to States by the General
Assembly on 12 December 2001.44 Article 1 declares that: “Every internationally
wrongful act of a State entails the international responsibility of that State”, while
article 2 provides that:
“There is an internationally wrongful act of a State when conduct consisting of
an action or omission: (a) Is attributable to the State under international law;
and (b) Constitutes a breach of an international obligation of the State”.45
33. Article 4 (1) addresses the question of the attribution of conduct to a State,
something of particular importance for the purposes of this opinion. This provision
declares that:
“The conduct of any State organ shall be considered an act of that State under
international law, whether the organ exercises legislative, executive, judicial or
any other functions, whatever position it holds in the organization of the State,
and whatever its character as an organ of the central government or of a
territorial unit of the State”.
34. This principle, which is one of long standing in international law,46 was
underlined by the International Court in the LaGrand case declaring that: “the
international responsibility of a state is engaged by the action of the competent
organ and authorities of the state, whatever they may be”47 and reiterated in the
Genocide Convention case, where it was noted that it was:
“One of the cornerstones of the law of state responsibility, that the conduct of
any state organ is to be considered an act of the state under international law,
and therefore gives rise to the responsibility of the state if it constitutes a
breach of an obligation of the state”.48
35. The ILC commentary to the articles on State responsibility underlined the
broad nature of this principle and emphasized that the reference to State organs in
this provision:
“Is not limited to the organs of central government, to officials at high level or
to persons with responsibility for the external relations of the state. It extends
to organs of government of whatever kind or classification, exercising
__________________
43 United Nations document A/56/10, 2001. See also James Crawford, The International Law
Commission’s Articles on State Responsibility, Cambridge, 2002, and James Crawford, Alain
Pellet, Simon Olleson (eds.), The Law of International Responsibility, Oxford, 2010.
44 United Nations General Assembly resolution 56/83. See also General Assembly resolutions
59/35 and 62/61 and document A/62/62.
45 See e.g. the Chorzow Factory case, PCIJ, series A, No. 9, p. 21 and the Rainbow Warrior case,
82 ILR, p. 499.
46 See e.g. the Moses case, John B. Moore, International Arbitration, vol. III, pp. 3127, 3129
(1871).
47 Provisional Measures, ICJ Reports, 1999, pp. 9, 16.
48 ICJ Reports, 2007, para. 385. It was held that this principle constituted a rule of customary
international law, ibid. See also Immunity from Legal Process of a Special Rapporteur, ICJ
Reports, 1999, pp. 62, 87.
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whatever functions, and at whatever level in the hierarchy, including those at
provincial or even local level”.49
36. Similarly, article 5 provides that the conduct of a person or entity which is not
an organ of the State under article 4, but which is empowered by the law of the State
to exercise elements of governmental authority shall be considered as an act of the
State under international law, provided that the person or entity in question was
acting in that capacity in the instance in question. Accordingly, activities by armed
units of the State, including those empowered so to act, will engage the
responsibility of the State. Thus Armenia is responsible internationally for actions
(and omissions) of its armed forces in their activities in Azerbaijan.
37. A key element of State responsibility, and one particularly significant for
present purposes, is the rule enshrined in article 8 that:
“The conduct of a person or group of persons shall be considered an act of a
state under international law if the person or group of persons is in fact acting
on the instructions of, or under the direction or control of, that state in carrying
out the conduct”.
38. This provision essentially covers two situations: first, where persons act
directly under the instructions of State authorities and, secondly, where persons are
acting under the “direction or control”. The latter point is critical. It means that
States cannot avoid responsibility for the acts of secessionist entities where in truth
it is the State which is controlling the activities of the body in question. The
difference between the two situations enumerated in article 8 is the level of control
exercised. In the former case, the persons concerned are in effect part of the
apparatus of the State insofar the particular situation is concerned. In the latter case,
the power of the State is rather more diffuse.
39. The International Court addressed the matter in the Nicaragua case, where it
was noted that in order for the State to be responsible for the activities, it would
need to be demonstrated that the State “had effective control of the military or
paramilitary operation in the course of which the alleged violations were
committed”.50 This approach was reaffirmed in the Genocide Convention case.51

2. Under the European Convention on Human Rights

40. As noted above, both Armenia and Azerbaijan are contracting parties to this
Convention, which further constitutes lex specialis. Jurisdictional rules, that is those
concerning State responsibility are not the same as those that apply in general
international law. The European Court of Human Rights has made it clear that a
contracting party’s responsibility covers not only the acts of its own agents and
officials but extends on the basis of “effective overall control” to include acts of a
“local administration” which survives by virtue of its support.52
41. The rationale behind this was explained by “the special character of the
Convention as an instrument of European public order (ordre public) for the
protection of individual human beings” and by the mission of the Court, as set out in
__________________
49 See Crawford, op.cit., p. 95.
50 ICJ Reports, 1986, pp. 14, 64-5.
51 ICJ Reports, 2007, at para. 398 and following.
52 ECHR Judgement of 10 May 2001 at para. 77.
12 12-32960