UNITED STATES: The Republic of Armenia has requested provisional measures from the ICJ to protect the rights enshrined in the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD) in its dispute with Azerbaijan. The request was made under Article 41 of the ICJ Statute and Article 73 of the Rules of Court.
Armenia has asked the ICJ to indicate several provisional measures, including refraining from taking any actions that may breach CERD obligations, facilitating the safe and expeditious return of displaced ethnic Armenians, and recognizing civil registers, identity documents, and property titles established by the authorities of Nagorno-Karabakh.
The measures also include withdrawing all military and law enforcement personnel from civilian establishments in Nagorno-Karabakh occupied as a result of Azerbaijan’s armed attack, facilitating the access of the United Nations and its specialized agencies to ethnic Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh, and not altering or destroying any monument commemorating the 1915 Armenian genocide or any other Armenian cultural artifact or site present in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Armenia has also requested that Azerbaijan submit a report to the ICJ on all measures taken to give effect to the provisional measures within one month from the date of the order and thereafter every three months until a final decision on the case is rendered by the Court.
The ICJ is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations, established by the UN Charter in June 1945. Its role is to settle legal disputes submitted to it by States in accordance with international law and to give advisory opinions on legal questions referred to it by authorized UN organs and agencies. The Court is composed of 15 judges elected for a nine-year term by the General Assembly and the Security Council of the United Nations.
Armenia and Azerbaijan have been in a long-standing dispute over the Nagorno-Karabakh region, which escalated into a military conflict in 2020. The conflict resulted in the displacement of ethnic Armenians from the region and the occupation of civilian establishments by Azerbaijan’s military and law-enforcement personnel. The ICJ has previously issued orders in the case, including on 7 December 2021 and 22 February 2023, reaffirming Azerbaijan’s obligations under CERD.
 for provisional measures to protect the rights enshrined in the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD) in its dispute with Azerbaijan. The measures include refraining from taking actions that may breach CERD obligations, facilitating the safe return of displaced ethnic Armenians, and recognizing civil registers and property titles established by Nagorno-Karabakh authorities.){kind=link}