2024-03-04 03:19:55
For more than 3 months, Azerbaijan has blocked the road of life connecting Artsakh to Armenia and the outside world, the Lachin Corridor. Artsakh’s economy suffered serious losses due to the blockade.
782 business entities (18.3% of the total) have suspended their activities due to the impossibility of working under the blockade conditions, and the rest of the business entities operate with partial volume or with state support.
Due to the blockade and disruption of vital infrastructure, an estimated 9,800 people (including state-supported temporary employment) have lost their actual jobs and income since the start of the blockade, which is more than 50 percent of private sector workers.
The construction works of 32.6 kilometers of roads, tens of kilometers of water lines, irrigation systems for thousands of hectares of land, 3,717 apartments, and more than 40 social and production infrastructures have been stopped.
During the blockade, the economy of the Republic of Artsakh was damaged by around 190 million US dollars, leading to the non-provision of the predicted annual GDP index (903 million dollars) by about 21 percent.
About 11 times less vital goods were imported into Artsakh by the Red Cross and Russian peacekeepers alone than would have been the case without the blockade (3,753 tons instead of about 41,200 tons in 103 days).
During the blockade, Azerbaijan completely or partially interrupted the gas supply from Armenia to Artsakh for a total of 37 days, and the electricity supply has been completely interrupted for 74 days. This has led to six-hour daily fan and additional emergency shutdowns and many facilities closing or curtailing operations.
Since the beginning of the blockade, many countries and international organizations of the world have condemned the actions of Azerbaijan and called for the lifting of the blockade. The issue was also discussed in the UN Security Council, the European Court of Human Rights obliged Azerbaijan to take all necessary and sufficient measures to remove the blockade. The International Court of Justice of the United Nations (The Hague) discussed it within the proceedings of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and obliged Azerbaijan to ensure uninterrupted movement through the Lachine Corridor. A resolution on the humanitarian consequences of the blockade of Artsakh was adopted in the European Parliament, but Azerbaijan continues its criminal behavior, ignoring the norms and requirements of international law.