Azerbaijan has not yet endorsed the Political Declaration on the use of explosive weapons in populated areas. It did not actively participate in the negotiations towards a Political Declaration.
Statements and positions
Azerbaijan delivered a statement during the September 2012 Interactive Dialogue with the UN Special Representative of the Secretary General (SRSG) for Children and Armed Conflict at the Human Rights Council, in which it emphasised the distinct harms caused by the use of explosive weapons in populated areas, particularly in cases where children become victims. Azerbaijan also spoke at the UN Security Council Open Debate on the Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict in June 2016. There it strongly condemned all attacks on civilians and civilian structures in situations of armed conflict and expressed specific concern about the use of explosive weapons in populated areas.1
Azerbaijan delivered a statement on the use of explosive weapons in populated areas in the context of the hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan at the UN Security Council’s August 2016 Open Debate on Children and Armed Conflict.2 In the statement, Azerbaijan aligned itself with the UN Secretary General’s recommendation that all parties to the conflict refrain from explosive weapons in populated areas use, especially given the unique suffering that it causes to children.
During the UN General Assembly First Committee on Disarmament and International Security in the years of 2020, 2021, and 2022, Azerbaijan condemned the use of explosive weapons in populated areas against civilians in its territory by Armenia, highlighting the indiscriminate or disproportionate harm to civilian and civilian objects which has occurred as a result of these attacks.3