The General Assembly, Recalling its relevant resolutions regarding humanitarian assistance to refugees and displaced persons, Having considered the report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Recognizing the catalytic role that the High Commissioner plays, together with the international community and development agencies, in the promotion of humanitarian aid and development with a view to finding durable and lasting solutions for refugees and displaced persons, Expressing its grave concern at the continuing deterioration of the humanitarian situation in Azerbaijan owing to the displacement of large numbers of civilians, Welcoming the efforts made by the United Nations interim office and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Azerbaijan to coordinate the needs assessment and the provision of humanitarian assistance, Welcoming also the consolidated United Nations inter-agency humanitarian programme for Azerbaijan for the period 1 July 1993 to 31 March 1994, Expressing its appreciation to the States and intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations that have responded positively and continue to respond to the humanitarian needs of Azerbaijan, and to the Secretary-General and United Nations bodies for mobilizing and coordinating the delivery of appropriate humanitarian assistance, Also expressing its appreciation to the Governments of the neighbouring States that provide the necessary humanitarian assistance, including the provision of accommodation and transit routes through their territories for the displaced persons from Azerbaijan,Noting with alarm that the humanitarian situation in Azerbaijan has continued to deteriorate seriously since the adoption of the programme in June 1993, and that the number of refugees and displaced persons in Azerbaijan has recently exceeded one million, Aware that the refugees and displaced persons are in a precarious situation, facing the threat of malnutrition and disease, and that appropriate external assistance is needed for the provision of foodstuffs, medical aid and the necessary shelter for the winter, Deeply concerned about the enormous burden that the massive presence of refugees and displaced persons has placed on the country's infrastructure, Affirming the urgent need to continue international action to assist Azerbaijan in providing shelter, medication and food to the refugees and displaced persons, especially to the most vulnerable groups,
1. Welcomes with appreciation the efforts undertaken by the Secretary-General in drawing the attention of the international community to the acute problems of the Azerbaijani refugees and displaced persons and in mobilizing assistance for them
2. Urgently appeals to all States, organizations and programmes of the United Nations, specialized agencies and other intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations to provide adequate and sufficient financial, medical and material assistance to the Azerbaijani refugees and displaced persons; 3. Invites the international financial institutions and the specialized agencies, organizations and programmes of the United Nations system, where appropriate, to bring the special needs of the Azerbaijani refugees and displaced persons to the attention of their respective governing bodies for their consideration and to report on the decisions of those bodies to the Secretary-General;
4. Invites the Secretary-General to continue to monitor the overall situation of refugees and displaced persons in Azerbaijan and to make available his good offices as required;
5. Requests the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to continue her efforts with the appropriate United Nations agencies and intergovernmental, governmental and non-governmental organizations, in order to consolidate and increase essential services to refugees and displaced persons in Azerbaijan;
6. Requests the Secretary-General to report to the General Assembly at its forty-ninth session on the progress made in the implementation of the present resolution.
20 December 1993
Refugees Tell Their Own Stories
I gathered my family and we ran for the car. When we started to leave a shell exploded right in front of the car so I stopped, backed up, and took another route.
When we were a little distant from our town, we stopped, looked back, and saw the entire village going up in flames. There was no resistance or any sign of defense anywhere. Everything has been destroyed. Even if our hometowns were freed tomorrow, we have nowhere to go.
My Life Isn't Worth Living I've been a refugee for two years now. I fled Serkh-Avard under heavy artillery fire and have been moving around in the valley ever since. My life is not worth living. I really wish I had taken one of those Armenian bullets.
Here in the camp, there's nothing but starvation, cold nights. We have no roof. I'm so tired and weak, I don't know what to do. What is going to happen to us?
Somebody came in and took a list of our names in the camp two months ago, nothing has happened yet. There's about a hundred of us here in this forest. The other day we had to go to a nearby village in search of bread. It had been raining hard for three days and we made the trip anyway - for nothing - we found no bread. There's another camp on the other side of the road over there. They probably have water and bread but we can't go there because of our cattle.
Food, bread and water - that's our biggest problem! My son here will be nine very soon. He's been to school for only 20 days in his life. But to hell with school, he needs food to stay alive.
We just voted in the elections. We need someone like Aliyev. We counting on him and his government to help us.
Only Wish - Return to Our Lands All we want is to go back to our homeland villages. We can't live like this. Our lives have been uprooted. We belong to our village and our village belongs to us. As far back as anyone can remember, our village has never been part of Armenian territory.
We ask everyone and anyone who can help to arrange for us to go back to our homes. Those foreign governments who can hear us. We urge their support to figure out a way for us to return. That's all we want. We'll build everything from scratch again. We must return.
I urge you to help us to go back to our land. They've taken everything away from us. I have nine children. My husband had a heart attack. I've never had to depend on anyone's help before as I've knitted and sewed all my life. But we must settle back on our land. Help us.
The Unchained Dog by Rafael Huseinov There's a newsreel taken in1988 showing thousands of Azerbaijanis fleeing Armenia, their homes having been looted and burned and many of their relatives killed.
These people were fleeing the only route they thought reliable - over snowy mountains. Most of the people wore only thin clothing. In the rush and stampede, they weren't able to gather warmer clothes. Some of them with bare feet had no choice but to climb over dangerous icy rocks in the cold, snowy winter. I'll never forget the words of one of those old men who had fled. He was a broken old man with frozen feet.
"I'm so sorry," he told the TV reporters, "that in the rush I forgot to unchain the dog and the howls of that poor animal have haunted me all my journey." And with that, the old man, broke into tears, weeping for the dog he had left behind in his deserted yard - chained, and howling for him, its owner.
Doc. 92b37 26 September 2001 Motion for a recommendation presented by Mr Huseynov R. and others
Independence of Azerbaijan, gained ten years ago created opportunities for substantial development in the field of education with a view of implementation of the European and international standards and establishment of active co-operation with advanced European educational centres. However, the past twelve years of war and aggression, hampered development of educational system in Azerbaijan.
As the result of military aggression by Armenia against Azerbaijan, 616 secondary schools, 234 pre-school centres, 12 vocational schools, 5 technical schools, 1 university, 3 university branches and 3 vocational school branches on the occupied territories remain demolished. Incurred damage has been estimated at about $1.5 billion. The occupation has resulted in forcedly displacement of about 20,000 employees in the field of education and about 130,000 pupils and students.
Today, in 48 regions of Azerbaijan there are 702 solely refugee secondary schools, including 30 located in the tent camps. About 90,000 pupils are going to these schools, in which 12,206 teachers and instructors take care of their education and fostering.
Other internally displaced pupils have been placed in schools throughout the country. However, that led to artificially increased number of pupils in classes, thus negatively affecting the quality of education throughout the country.
Being deeply concerned with the existing problems in the field of education faced by refugees, the Parliamentary Assembly herein strongly urges the Committee of Ministers to pay the necessary attention to the respective matter.