Azərbaycan Respublikasının
BMT yanında
Daimi Nümayəndəliyi

Permanent Mission
of the Republic of Azerbaijan
to the United Nations

633 Third Avenue, Suite 3210, New York, N.Y. 10017
Tel.: (212) 371-2559; Fax: (212) 371-2784

Opening remarks by H.E. Mr. Tofig F. Musayev

Permanent Representative of the Republic of Azerbaijan to the United Nations

at the briefing on “Saving Lives through Humanitarian Mine Action in Azerbaijan”,

held on the occasion of the International Day for Mine Awareness and

Assistance in Mine Action

United Nations Headquarters, CR 8, 4 April 2025

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Dear colleagues,

At the outset, I would like to thank all participants for accepting our invitation to join this event organized by the Permanent Mission of Azerbaijan, in cooperation with the Center of Analysis of International Relations, on the occasion of the International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action.

Regrettably, landmines, explosive remnants of war and improvised explosive devices continue to affect many countries in conflict or post-conflict situations, posing a deadly threat to civilians, servicemen, peacekeepers and humanitarian personnel.

Azerbaijan is among such countries, with more than 13% of its territory affected by these hazards. Despite the end of the conflict with neighboring Armenia and the progress achieved in advancing the peace agenda, the number of post-conflict mine victims in the country is rising and has reached 388 since November 2020, of whom 70 lost their lives and 318 suffered horrific injuries, most of them civilians.

Among the causes of a heavy human toll is the fact that many landmines and booby traps were placed in civilian areas and objects, far from the former front line, in places from which civilians were displaced and to which they are expected to return. Even cemeteries and cultural sites were mined.

The mine threat delays the essential reconstruction works and hinders the safe return of internally displaced persons to their homes. The extensive mine contamination also poses a serious obstacle to the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). In this connection, Azerbaijan declared the humanitarian demining as the 18th National SDG.

Mine action in Azerbaijan has gained notable national and international attention.

Thus, since 2022, Azerbaijan has held three annual international conferences on mine action jointly with the United Nations, which have evolved into one of the prominent global dialogue venues addressing the mine problem. All three conferences produced tangible outcome documents addressing a wide range of issues on humanitarian demining and sustainable development, environmental impact of landmines and the imperative of international support in this context.

Among other initiatives of Azerbaijan is the resolution on the impact of landmines on cultural property, adopted in December 2023 at the 15th meeting of the High Contracting Parties to the 1954 Hague Convention on the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict.[1]

Furthermore, in its resolution 79/173 on missing persons, initiated by Azerbaijan, the General Assembly “expresse[d] concern at the impediments caused by landmines, explosive remnants of war and improvised explosive devices […] to efforts on identifying the whereabouts of missing persons, and call[ed] upon States concerned to cooperate to facilitate the safe search for human remains and retrieval operations”.[2]

The most recent initiative is the draft resolution entitled “The impact of anti-personnel mines on the full enjoyment of all human rights”, tabled by Azerbaijan at the Human Rights Council in Geneva.