Three members of the New South Wales Parliament have delivered powerful addresses on the floor of the Legislative Assembly to mark the first anniversary of the Ethnic Cleansing of Artsakh whilst calling on Australian elected officials to boycott the upcoming global climate conference (COP29) in Baku Azerbaijan, reported the Armenian National Committee of Australia (ANC-AU)
The Private Member Statements were delivered by Tim James MP – Member for Willoughby, and Hugh McDermott MP – Member for Prospect, who addressed the issue on 19 September 2024 and Matt Cross MP – Member for Davidson, who delivered his statement on 26 September 2024.
All three speakers, who are also members of the Australian Friends of Artsakh network, condemned Azerbaijan’s illegal invasion of the sovereign borders of Armenia, the desecration of Armenian religious and cultural heritage sites, the illegal imprisonment of Armenian hostages – including government officials from Artsakh and Azerbaijan’s failure to facilitate the right of return of Artsakh refugees under international guarantees. As a consequence of their actions, the speakers called on Australian parliamentarians to stay home amid the upcoming COP29 summit.
McDermott said: “Azerbaijan [is] hosting the upcoming Global Climate Change Conference, COP 29, in Baku later this year. That conference will be held in the same city that Armenian political prisoners and hostages are illegally rotting in. I firmly believe that Australians should not attend the upcoming COP 29 conference. Any individual with a shred of integrity or conscience must abstain from the conference this year, lest they lend legitimacy and respect to a criminal regime that is deserving of neither.”
Tim James, who rose immediately after Dr McDermott to address the same issue, said: “I understand that Chris Bowen will be attending COP29, and I strongly urge him to reconsider this. His presence would be a direct affront to Australian Armenians and to the principles of human dignity and international justice. By attending this summit, Chris Bowen would send a message to the world that Australia is willing to overlook the oppressive and dictatorial regime of Azerbaijan. To attend would be to legitimize a regime that has shown utter disregard for human rights.”
The Member for Davidson, Matt Cross, said: “Australia needs to send a strong message to the international community by boycotting the United Nations’ Conference of the Parties 29 [COP29], to be held in Azerbaijan in November. For the Australian or New South Wales governments to visit Azerbaijan is to ignore and make light of our commitment to human rights. Attending would legitimize a regime that disregards human rights. The United Nations should have known better than to award an international conference to Azerbaijan, given its human rights record.”
