Judges at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) threw out objections by Azerbaijan to an anti-discrimination case filed by Armenia and said on Tuesday the case could move forward.
Armenia filed the case against Azerbaijan in 2021. Azerbaijan then filed a counterclaim accusing Armenia of violating the same treaty.
Last year, the court issued emergency measures in Armenia’s case, ordering Azerbaijan to let ethnic Armenians, who fled Nagorno-Karabakh in September 2023, return.
The Court completely rejected all preliminary objections raised by Azerbaijan in the case concerning the Application of the Convention of the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (Armenia v. Azerbaijan).
The Court confirmed that the preconditions under Article 22 of the Convention were met. Specifically, it found that Armenia had engaged in genuine negotiations on the interpretation and application of the Convention and that these negotiations had become futile by the date of Armenia’s Application on 16 September 2021.
Furthermore, the Court dismissed Azerbaijan’s objections regarding jurisdiction ratione materiae. It held that Armenia’s claims fully fall within the scope of the Convention, including the claims that Azerbaijan has committed acts of murder, torture, and inhuman treatment against ethnic Armenians based on their national or ethnic origin, as well as claims of arbitrary detention of ethnic Armenians.
