10:25

           Another international conference dedicated to the topic of missing persons was held

On October 2, another international conference on "Addressing the problem of missing persons: upholding the right to know for families" was organized jointly by the State Commission of the Republic of Azerbaijan on Prisoners of War, Hostages and Missing Persons (State Commission) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has been held. The event was attended by representatives and experts of international institutions on missing persons and human rights, employees of institutions of foreign countries operating in the relevant field and family members of missing persons.

First, the address of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Mr. Ilham Aliyev to the conference participants was read, and then a short film related to the theme of the event was demonstrated.

Chief of the State Security Service (SSS), chairman of the State Commission, Ali Naghiyev, made a speech and warmly greeted the guests, saying that after the international conference organized in September last year on such a sensitive issue, he hoped that this year's event would make an important contribution to the work done in the direction of solving the problem of missing persons, noted the importance of supporting the right of families to receive information about their missing loved ones at the international level. The Chief of the Service said that 3,979 people are currently registered as missing persons at the State Commission, 18 mass graves have been discovered in the territories freed from occupation and that 155 of those missing in the First Karabakh War have been identified, as a result of the urgent measures taken in September of the current year, the remains of about 15 persons missing in the First Karabakh War were identified in Syrkhavand village of Aghdara region.

The chairman of the State Commission said that the separatist regime that once existed in the Karabakh territory of Azerbaijan during the period from the end of the Patriotic War to the anti-terrorist operation carried out in September 2023, purposefully destroyed several mass graves and the Armenian side did not provide information about those graves, and it is also expressed a clear disrespect for international law, as well as for the families of the missing who have been waiting for their loved ones for many years, and for humanity as a whole. It was brought to attention that it is possible to observe the above-mentioned situation in the grave sites of Garadaghli village of Khojavend region, Dahraz village of Khojaly region and Syrkhavand village of Aghdara region.

Stating that the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Mr. Ilham Aliyev, clarified the fate of missing citizens as the most important task before the State Commission, and that the head of the country constantly keeps this issue under special control, Chief of Service Ali Naghiyev emphasized that the problem of missing persons is not a matter of concern for individual states only, but represents an important issue for international organizations and international political circles as well.

Then the other speakers gave detailed information about the work done by the institutions they represented in the past and the tasks ahead in order to clarify the fate of the missing persons, that the joint efforts to find the missing persons will be continued in the future, expressed their belief that the ideas that will be voiced at the conference, the proposals that will be put forward and the ideas that will be carried out will open new horizons for solving the problem of missing persons.

The event continued with panel sessions on the topic.