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"WE DO NOT DISPOSE OF INFORMATION ON PRESENCE OF AZERI PRISONERS OF WAR IN ARMENIA"
Panorama.am
18:21 17/05/06
The International Committee Of The Red Cross Armenian Mission
Delegate Catherine Patronoff Stated In An Interview With De Facto
Information-Analytics Agency
The Azeri mass media have been recently discussing the issues referring
to prisoners of war, hostages and persons reported missing during
the Karabakh conflict.
Alluding to Azerbaijan State Commission on Prisoners of War, Hostages
and Missing Persons, various data have been made public about the
quantity of the citizens of Azerbaijan, who are allegedly in "the
Armenian captivity". According to the latest statements, there are
4600 prisoners, including babies, in the Armenian captivity. And yet
it is stressed that the International Committee of the Red Cross does
not make efforts to free the people.
DE FACTO Information-Analytics Agency appealed to the International
Committee of the Red Cross Armenian Mission delegate Catherine
PATRONOFF to receive the impartial information on the issue painful
for both parties.
- Mrs. Patronoff, does the information disseminated by the Azeri mass
media on presence of 4600 Azeri prisoners in the Armenian captivity
correspond to reality?
- Publications concerning presence of the Azeri prisoners in Armenia
and Nagorno Karabakh, as well as the Armenian prisoners in Azerbaijan
appear regularly.
The International Committee of the Red Cross cannot confirm the
information. I have heard about tens, hundreds of prisoners; however,
it is the first time I have heard about 4600 Azeri prisoners. I believe
the publications' authors confuse the notions "a prisoner" and "a
person reported missing". State Commissions in Azerbaijan and Armenia
deal not only with the problems of prisoners, but those reported
missing, perhaps, it is for that reason that the muddle has appeared.
The International Committee of the Red Cross's mandate assumes work in
the conflict zone during hostilities; however, it goes on working after
concluding an armistice as well. The ICRC has been working in Armenia
and Azerbaijan since 1992. We take guidance from the principles of
the international law, first of all basing ourselves on the Geneva
conventions, to which Armenia and Azerbaijan acceded as well. The
Delegation is working in various directions; one of the main goals is
visiting prisoners of war and participation in their repatriation as a
neutral mediator. Since 1992 our organization has participated in 656
repatriations of prisoners of war or civil persons. The representatives
of the Delegation regularly visit the places of imprisonment. I
would like to repeat that we have no information on presence of the
Azeri prisoners here, in Armenia. I was more surprised learning that,
allegedly, there are babies in the Armenian captivity. It means that
the babies or their mothers were taken prisoners not long ago.
However, we do not dispose of the information.
- How successful is the cooperation between the ICRC and the Armenian
side, in part, State Commission on Prisoners of War, Hostages and
Missing Persons, developing?
-We constantly cooperate with the leadership of Armenia. We have
admission to all the places of imprisonment, the Armenian authorities
do not hamper our activity, and we can visit the prisons any time.
We collaborate, in particular, with Ministry of Defense of Armenia
on the issues referring to funding facts concerning those reported
missing, exchange and verify the lists. Sometimes there are variances:
the names mentioned in the lists of the Ministry of Defense are
not in our lists. In such cases we contact with the families of
the persons reported missing and suggest that we should form a
questionnaire. According to the Geneva conventions, the country's
leadership must take steps to define the people's fate, and our
organization promotes settlement of the issues. We also meet with
the representatives of various ministries to resolve a number of
humanitarian issues.
As for the cooperation between the ICRC and RA State Commission on
Prisoners of War, Hostages and Missing Persons, I should remark we
have made no advance recently.
- How many Armenians are there in the lists of missing persons,
according to the ICRC data?
- According to our data, there are about 350 missing persons from
Armenia and some 350 citizens from Nagorno Karabakh. I would like to
note that we cannot guarantee absolute accuracy of the data, as the
questionnaires are being formed till now, as not all the relatives
of the missing persons applied to the Red Cross in time, so there
may be some difference in figures.
Actually, it is not important how many persons have been reported
missing from one or another party. We go on working to solve the
problem. By the end of the year the ICRC plans to start working on
collection of physical characteristics, identification data of those
reported missing. It is very important for the Commissions on Prisoners
of War, Hostages and Missing Persons to jointly resolve the problem,
cooperate and exchange information.
From: Baghdasarian
Panorama.am
18:21 17/05/06
The International Committee Of The Red Cross Armenian Mission
Delegate Catherine Patronoff Stated In An Interview With De Facto
Information-Analytics Agency
The Azeri mass media have been recently discussing the issues referring
to prisoners of war, hostages and persons reported missing during
the Karabakh conflict.
Alluding to Azerbaijan State Commission on Prisoners of War, Hostages
and Missing Persons, various data have been made public about the
quantity of the citizens of Azerbaijan, who are allegedly in "the
Armenian captivity". According to the latest statements, there are
4600 prisoners, including babies, in the Armenian captivity. And yet
it is stressed that the International Committee of the Red Cross does
not make efforts to free the people.
DE FACTO Information-Analytics Agency appealed to the International
Committee of the Red Cross Armenian Mission delegate Catherine
PATRONOFF to receive the impartial information on the issue painful
for both parties.
- Mrs. Patronoff, does the information disseminated by the Azeri mass
media on presence of 4600 Azeri prisoners in the Armenian captivity
correspond to reality?
- Publications concerning presence of the Azeri prisoners in Armenia
and Nagorno Karabakh, as well as the Armenian prisoners in Azerbaijan
appear regularly.
The International Committee of the Red Cross cannot confirm the
information. I have heard about tens, hundreds of prisoners; however,
it is the first time I have heard about 4600 Azeri prisoners. I believe
the publications' authors confuse the notions "a prisoner" and "a
person reported missing". State Commissions in Azerbaijan and Armenia
deal not only with the problems of prisoners, but those reported
missing, perhaps, it is for that reason that the muddle has appeared.
The International Committee of the Red Cross's mandate assumes work in
the conflict zone during hostilities; however, it goes on working after
concluding an armistice as well. The ICRC has been working in Armenia
and Azerbaijan since 1992. We take guidance from the principles of
the international law, first of all basing ourselves on the Geneva
conventions, to which Armenia and Azerbaijan acceded as well. The
Delegation is working in various directions; one of the main goals is
visiting prisoners of war and participation in their repatriation as a
neutral mediator. Since 1992 our organization has participated in 656
repatriations of prisoners of war or civil persons. The representatives
of the Delegation regularly visit the places of imprisonment. I
would like to repeat that we have no information on presence of the
Azeri prisoners here, in Armenia. I was more surprised learning that,
allegedly, there are babies in the Armenian captivity. It means that
the babies or their mothers were taken prisoners not long ago.
However, we do not dispose of the information.
- How successful is the cooperation between the ICRC and the Armenian
side, in part, State Commission on Prisoners of War, Hostages and
Missing Persons, developing?
-We constantly cooperate with the leadership of Armenia. We have
admission to all the places of imprisonment, the Armenian authorities
do not hamper our activity, and we can visit the prisons any time.
We collaborate, in particular, with Ministry of Defense of Armenia
on the issues referring to funding facts concerning those reported
missing, exchange and verify the lists. Sometimes there are variances:
the names mentioned in the lists of the Ministry of Defense are
not in our lists. In such cases we contact with the families of
the persons reported missing and suggest that we should form a
questionnaire. According to the Geneva conventions, the country's
leadership must take steps to define the people's fate, and our
organization promotes settlement of the issues. We also meet with
the representatives of various ministries to resolve a number of
humanitarian issues.
As for the cooperation between the ICRC and RA State Commission on
Prisoners of War, Hostages and Missing Persons, I should remark we
have made no advance recently.
- How many Armenians are there in the lists of missing persons,
according to the ICRC data?
- According to our data, there are about 350 missing persons from
Armenia and some 350 citizens from Nagorno Karabakh. I would like to
note that we cannot guarantee absolute accuracy of the data, as the
questionnaires are being formed till now, as not all the relatives
of the missing persons applied to the Red Cross in time, so there
may be some difference in figures.
Actually, it is not important how many persons have been reported
missing from one or another party. We go on working to solve the
problem. By the end of the year the ICRC plans to start working on
collection of physical characteristics, identification data of those
reported missing. It is very important for the Commissions on Prisoners
of War, Hostages and Missing Persons to jointly resolve the problem,
cooperate and exchange information.
From: Baghdasarian