Foley Hoag LLP’s client the Republic of Armenia has prevailed over the Republic of Azerbaijan in a new order on provisional measures issued by the International Court of Justice (“ICJ”) in a case brought under the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (the “CERD”). The decision was delivered on November 17, 2023.

Armenia filed this request for provisional measures in response to Azerbaijan’s September 19, 2023 attack on the 120,000 ethnic Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh. The attack was the culmination of a deliberate policy of ethnically cleansing Nagorno-Karabakh and came on the heels of Azerbaijan’s nine-month blockade of the Lachin Corridor—the only road connecting Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia and the outside world. 

Azerbaijan’s blockade of the Lachin Corridor began in December 2022, when a group of so-called “eco-protestors” orchestrated by the Azerbaijani Government blocked the road and prevented the movement of people and cargo into and out of Nagorno-Karabakh. A few months later, Azerbaijan installed a checkpoint on the Lachin road near the border with Armenia, placing further impediments on the movement along the road. Despite an order from the ICJ on February 22, 2023 requiring Azerbaijan to “take all measures at its disposal to ensure unimpeded movement of persons, vehicles and cargo along the Lachin Corridor in both directions,” Azerbaijan continued to impede movement along the Corridor, leading to shortages of essential goods and impeding the ability of sick Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh to freely travel to Armenia for medical care. 

The situation was aggravated by Azerbaijan’s deliberate disruption of electricity and natural gas supplies, and its constant targeting of Armenian farmers. Azerbaijan’s attack of September 19, 2023 which targeted civilian infrastructure and led to the deaths of hundreds of ethnic Armenians, ultimately resulted in the forced displacement of virtually the entire ethnic Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh.

In its Order of November 17, 2023, the Court ordered Azerbaijan to:

1. “(i) ensure that persons who have left Nagorno-Karabakh after 19 September 2023 and who wish to return to Nagorno-Karabakh are able to do so in a safe, unimpeded and expeditious manner; (ii) ensure that persons who remained in Nagorno-Karabakh after 19 September 2023 and who wish to depart are able to do so in a safe, unimpeded and expeditious manner; and (iii) ensure that persons who remained in Nagorno-Karabakh after 19 September 2023 or returned to Nagorno-Karabakh and who wish to stay are free from the use of force or intimidation that may cause them to flee”; and 
2. “protect and preserve registration, identity and private property documents and records that concern the persons identified under subparagraph (1) and have due regard to such documents and records in its administrative and legislative practices.”

The Court also took note of certain undertakings made by Azerbaijan during the hearing on Armenia’s request for provisional measures, which it noted “are binding and create legal obligations for Azerbaijan.” 

Importantly, and in a rare decision for the Court, the Court also ordered Azerbaijan to “submit a report to the Court on the steps taken to give effect to the provisional measures indicated and to the undertakings made by the Agent of Azerbaijan within eight weeks.”

Finally, the Court reaffirmed its previous Orders of December 7, 2021 and February 22, 2023, recalling they “have binding effect and thus create international legal obligations for any party to whom the provisional measures are addressed.” The Court’s most recent order likewise creates legally binding obligations under international law which, along with Azerbaijan’s undertakings, must be immediately complied with in good faith. 

“In its intervention during the General Assembly’s plenary meeting on the Court’s annual report, Azerbaijan expressed its support of the Court and highlighted its significant role in promoting the settlement of disputes peacefully. Hopefully Azerbaijan, which has now become the only State in the Court’s history to have three separate provisional measures orders against it, adheres to its stated position and fully complies with the Court’s Order,” said Foley Hoag partner and Co-Chair of the International Litigation and Arbitration Practice Constantinos Salonidis.

Foley Hoag leads Armenia’s defense in these proceedings. The firm’s team of lawyers is headed by Salonidis, senior counsel Lawrence Martin, special counsel Pierre d’Argent and partner Joseph Klingler, and includes associates Peter Tzeng, Iulia Padeanu Mellon, Juan Pablo Hugues, Amir Farhadi, Diem Huong Ho, Yasmin Al Ameen, and Harout Ekmanian. Professors Sean Murphy of George Washington University Law School and Alexander Sicilianos of the University of Athens, as well as Alison Macdonald KC of Essex Chambers, are part of Armenia’s legal team.

The Government is represented by its Agent Dr. Yeghishe Kirakosyan, Representative of the Republic of Armenia on International Legal Matters, and attorneys Dr. Liparit Drmeyan, Kristine Khanazadyan, and Aram Aramyan, from the Office of the Representative of the Republic of Armenia on International Legal Matters.