Azerbaijan files lawsuit against Armenia

The Azerbaijani side has filed the Statement of Claim with the Permanent Court of Arbitration (in The Hague) in its arbitration case against Armenia under the Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats of 1979 (‘the Bern Convention’), reported from the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry.

The Statement of Claim details Armenia’s multiple violations of its legal obligations under the Bern Convention.

Upon liberating its territories, Azerbaijan uncovered shocking evidence of Armenia’s environmental destruction, and its blatant failure to protect habitats and species in what is one of the world’s richest biodiversity hotspots. Armenia’s actions and omissions have caused severe harm to the area’s habitats and species—harm which is, by its very nature, irreversible.

Based on the above-mentioned evidence, on 18 January 2023, Azerbaijan served a Notice of Arbitration on Armenia to begin arbitration proceedings. The arbitral tribunal was confirmed on 15 September 2023, and the first procedural conference between Azerbaijan and Armenia took place on 12 April 2024 at the Peace Palace in The Hague.

Azerbaijan’s legal action against Armenia is the first known inter-state arbitration case under the Bern Convention.

Azerbaijan is seeking full reparations from Armenia for the extensive destruction of the habitats and species caused by Armenia. This includes widespread deforestation, environmentally unsustainable logging, mining, and construction of hydropower plants during Armenia’s occupation of part of Azerbaijan’s territory, which negatively affected the hundreds of wildlife species and their habitats native to that territory.

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has previously noted that thousands hectares of specially protected and valuable forests in Azerbaijan – home to ancient trees over 2,000 years old – were damaged. Some of these reserves were established to protect rare and fragile ecosystems, such as an oriental plane forest in the Basitchay River valley. The UNEP report also documented that mining activities in the formerly occupied territories caused ‘chemical pollution of water, soil and biota’, adding that hundreds of fish had been found dead in the Okhchuchay River. Several protected fish and amphibian species remain threatened by Armenia’s actions during occupation.

Azerbaijan will continue to seek justice and to hold Armenia internationally accountable for its destruction of, and failure to protect, the environment, species, and habitats during its illegal occupation.