Jerome Laxale (Bennelong, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

After 190 days, 120,000 innocent civilians remain under siege without access to food, supplies, humanitarian relief, gas and internet. This is the day-to-day reality for the people of Artsakh. It is the grim reality for 9,000 people living a disability, 20,000 elderly civilians and 30,000 children who call this democratic state their home. This is a humanitarian crisis that the International Association of Genocide Scholars is now calling a risk of genocide, as a result of Azerbaijan's blockade on this entire region.

I note that the International Court of Justice has ordered provisional measures demanding Azerbaijan open the corridor. Specifically, I acknowledge Australian judge Hilary Charlesworth, a member of the ICJ, who took a principled stance and voted in favour of this measure, with the hope of ending the humanitarian crisis. It is a position I know many in my electorate of Bennelong have welcomed and one they hope that the Azerbaijan government will also echo. It's time for that regime to listen to calls from across the world and end this blockade. Should countries fail to abide by such well-respected institutions, they threaten the democratic values and internationally accepted human rights we as a nation have fought so hard to defend. So today I stand with my community of Australian Armenians in Bennelong praying for an immediate end to this blockade and pledge to continue to raise awareness on this issue within government.