Final yr on World Meals Day, President Biden reaffirmed his dedication to a world the place “no little one has to go to mattress hungry, no guardian has to fret about the right way to feed their household, and nobody has to face meals insecurity.” In that very same speech, Biden highlighted how america had that yr alone dedicated greater than $9 billion in lifesaving humanitarian help to susceptible communities world wide.
Sadly, Biden’s pledge just isn’t reaching the Armenians residing in Nagorno-Karabakh, who’ve been locked in a battle over their homeland with Azerbaijan because the fall of the Soviet Union.
On this newest chapter, since final December the federal government of Azerbaijan, beneath the management of its petro-dictator Ilham Aliyev, has carried out an unlawful blockade of the one street linking greater than 120,000 Armenians, together with 30,000 youngsters, in Nagorno-Karabakh to the skin world. It is likely one of the world’s most missed and underreported humanitarian crises going down in the present day.
By limiting entry to meals, medication, fuel, electrical energy and different vital provides to be delivered by the Lachin Hall, Azerbaijan is on its approach to making residing situations so insufferable that Armenians are compelled to go away the area.
Earlier this month, a 40-year-old resident of Stepanakert, the capital of Nagorno-Karabakh, died of hunger, turning into the area’s first reported sufferer of continual malnutrition and protein deficiency. The shortage of meals has additionally contributed to the variety of early-stage miscarriages, which reportedly have almost tripled this summer season.
Utilizing meals as a weapon has change into a well-liked device for autocrats to disrupt the lives of harmless folks whereas making an attempt to pressure concessions that profit their pursuits. Russia’s Vladimir Putin has successfully held the worldwide meals provide hostage by attacking Ukraine’s ports and crippling grain exports through the Black Sea, as collectively the 2 international locations export 30% of the world’s wheat, 60% of the world’s sunflower oil and 20% of the world’s corn.
Azerbaijan is popping to the same playbook in making an attempt to pressure its will on the Armenian folks by making an attempt to interrupt their spirit and resolve by means of meals. Biden has steadfastly held Russia accountable for its egregious habits, and the State Division has been working with European Union officers to aim to reopen the Lachin Hall. However these efforts have thus far failed.
The shortage of management from the White Home has led different actors on the world stage to fill that void. This month, Luis Moreno Ocampo, former chief prosecutor of the Worldwide Felony Court docket, launched an explosive report stating that when assessing the Azerbaijani blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh, “there’s a cheap foundation to consider {that a} genocide is being dedicated.” And, the report states, “With out instant dramatic change, this group of Armenians will likely be destroyed in just a few weeks.”
Having been victims of genocide within the twentieth century, Armenians know all too properly the horrors of such crimes towards humanity and really feel their voices and considerations are as soon as once more being ignored and sacrificed on the altar of realpolitik.
That kind of worldwide gamesmanship was evident on the United Nations earlier this month when the Safety Council held an emergency assembly to debate the worsening humanitarian scenario after Armenia urged the worldwide neighborhood to assist finish the blockade. Whereas France and different international locations used the chance to focus on the rules of worldwide legislation and humanitarianism as causes to carry the blockade, different delegations — equivalent to Nice Britain, which has vital oil investments within the nation — held again on condemning Azerbaijan.
And regardless of the proof on the bottom, Azerbaijan’s U.N. consultant claimed that Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh had been blissful and well-fed by sharing printouts of Instagram posts that allegedly confirmed Armenians getting married and celebrating birthdays.
For Biden, as a president who took workplace claiming that human rights could be central to his international coverage, this tragedy threatens to stain his legacy.
So, what can he do? For starters, he can start by unequivocally calling for a direct finish to the blockade and apply strain on Azerbaijan by means of sanctions, as California Rep. Adam B. Schiff has known as for. He can implement Part 907 of the Freedom Assist Act that bans U.S. help to the Azerbaijani authorities — restrictions that he, like presidents earlier than him, has waived every year since turning into president. And he can direct Samantha Energy, the administrator of america Company for Worldwide Improvement, to allocate extra assets and cash towards serving to Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh.
The U.S. enabling of Azerbaijan’s authoritarianism is now costing lives and giving Azerbaijan cowl to do what it desires with impunity. Time is working out for the Armenian folks residing in Nagorno-Karabakh. If Biden really believes that no little one ought to fall asleep hungry, then he’ll have to act with far larger urgency to break Azerbaijan’s blockade.
Stephan Pechdimaldji is a communications strategist residing within the San Francisco Bay Space. He’s a first-generation Armenian American and grandson of survivors of the Armenian genocide.
