UN humanitarian team wraps up assessment mission to Armenia, Azerbaijan

(New York, 9 October 2023) – A team from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) concluded a week-long mission on 5 October to Azerbaijan and Armenia to identify the most pressing needs of people in the Karabakh region, as well as of refugees who fled to Armenia.

The OCHA team, led by the organization’s Director of Coordination, Ramesh Rajasingham, accompanied the UN Resident Coordinator, Vladanka Andreeva, and representatives of UN agencies, to Karabakh on 1 October. In the urban areas visited, the team found very few residents remaining, with most waiting for a bus to leave the region. It also saw signs of rapid flight, with people’s personal belongings and livestock having been left behind.
Civilian infrastructure and homes – such as schools, the main hospital, and apartment buildings – appeared intact. The mission did not visit any rural villages during this first trip, but these areas will be visited in the coming days and weeks.

The team also traveled to the border with Armenia via the Lachin corridor, the route used by more than 100,000 ethnic Armenians to flee Karabakh in recent days. Along the way, the team saw personal belongings, as well as vehicles that had broken down or run out of fuel, strewn by the roadside. No civilians were seen on the corridor when the mission was there.

In Armenia, the OCHA team, together with the Resident Coordinator a.i., Natia Natsvlishvili, and the representative of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), met with Government officials and civil society organizations. They also spoke to refugees who fled Karabakh – women, men and children traumatized and frightened from their ordeal who recounted the fear and panic that prompted them to flee.

OCHA stresses that confidence and trust are critical before the conditions for any voluntary returns to Karabakh can meaningfully be achieved. In the immediate term, OCHA emphasizes that those who have fled Karabakh must receive the assistance they need, that those remaining must be cared for and protected, and that the property rights of displaced persons must be respected.

UNHCR, with UN agencies and NGO partners, have launched an appeal for US$97 million to assist 231,000 people – including refugees and the host communities supporting them – in Armenia for six months, in support of the Government-led response. UNHCR has been providing assistance on the ground since refugees began arriving to Armenia late last month.

Ahead of the harsh winter months, the UN Central Emergency Response Fund has allocated $4 million to help with shelter and other critical needs, while an OCHA team will remain temporarily in Azerbaijan’s capital Baku to support continued assessment missions into Karabakh which are already underway.