THE HAGUE – Judges at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) threw out objections by Azerbaijan to an anti-discrimination case filed by neighbouring Armenia and said on Tuesday the case could move forward.
The ICJ will decide later on Armenia’s objections to a similar case that sees Azerbaijan accuse Armenia of violating a U.N. anti-discrimination treaty. Both sides have said the other is carrying out ethnic cleansing.
Armenia filed the case against Azerbaijan in 2021. Azerbaijan then filed a counterclaim accusing Armenia of violating the same treaty.
Last year, the court issued emergency measures in Armenia’s case, ordering Azerbaijan to let ethnic Armenians, who fled the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave in September 2023, return.
Azerbaijan retook the former breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh in September 2023, after 30 years of de facto independence, prompting almost its entire ethnic Armenian population of around 100,000 to flee to Armenia.
Armenia accuses Azerbaijan of ethnic cleansing. Azerbaijan says it has pledged to ensure all residents’ safety and security, regardless of national or ethnic origin, and that it has not forced ethnic Armenians to leave Karabakh.
Azerbaijan, in its case, says Armenia is carrying out an ethnic cleansing campaign against Azeris.
The ICJ, also known as the World Court, is the United Nations top court for resolving disputes between countries.
(Reporting by Stephanie van den Berg; Editing by Alex Richardson)
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