- Armenia, Nagorno-Karabakh Artsakh.
One year ago, on 19 September 2023, Azerbaijan launched a large-scale military offensive against the Armenian population living in its ancestral homeland of Nagorno-Karabakh or Artsakh, after imposing a 9-month blockade in defiance of International Humanitarian Law and the International Court of Justice.
In the space of a few days, fearing for their lives, more than 100,000 Armenians from Artsakh took refuge in neighbouring Armenia. For a country with a population of 3 million, this would mean the arrival of almost 2.3 million refugees in France.
While humanitarian aid was remarkable at the outset, it is now important to provide these refugees with the necessary long-term support in terms of housing, jobs and education for young people. This is a considerable challenge for Armenia, and one that calls for solidarity on the part of NGOs, foundations, local authorities, international institutions and friendly countries.
On 9 September 2024 in The Hague, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court received a communication (complaint) for forced population displacement. According to the lawyers, ‘The deportation of Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh bears all the hallmarks of a crime against humanity’. To be continued.
For its part, the association Défis Humanitaires and its magazine have launched an initiative with publishing houses to provide books of contemporary French-language literature that are lacking in the libraries of schools where French is taught. We’ll be talking more about this in our next issue in November.
- Pierre Lafrance has passed away.
On 31 August 2024, Pierre Lafrance passed away at the age of 92. I knew him first as French ambassador, then as president of MADERA (Mission d’Aide au Développement des Économies Rurales en Afghanistan) and a friend of humanitarian associations such as AFRANE (Amitiés Franco-Afghane). He was also a regular participant in COFA (Comité des ONG françaises en Afghanistan) meetings.
Régis Koestchet (former French ambassador and former president of AFRANE) paid tribute to him at his funeral in the church of Saint Joseph des Epinettes. He said: ‘Dear Pierre, you invited us to see the world as a “land of promise”, a land of promises, of wonder, of respect’. ‘Your wisdom was there – you liked to recall the wisdom of the farming communities in the Afghan valleys, skilful at debating and turning over every stone. You understood the complexity of the situations in which you were involved, whether religious, ethnic or ideological’. (link to the full text).
Similarly, Eric Lavertu, President of the AFRANE association and a former diplomat, wrote a note published in Le Monde that began as follows: ‘Pierre Lafrance was a great diplomat and a discreet scholar, but he was also a profound humanist and an ardent campaigner for human rights’. You can read the full text here.
- European Commission. ECHO.
Maria Groenewald, Director of VOICE (Voluntary Organisation In Cooperation in Europe) addressed the European Parliament’s Development Committee, urging rapid and decisive action to address the growing humanitarian needs with over 300 million people at risk.
As the UN’s Global Humanitarian Assessment 2024 points out, $49 billion is needed to help 187 million people, but only 30% of the necessary funds have been mobilised to date!
The other key points presented by Maria Groenewald focused on the need for :
– Funding that is predictable, multi-year, flexible, needs-based and not influenced by political or economic interests.
– Ensure that humanitarian funding remains separate from development funding in the next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF).
Europe’s commitment to principled humanitarian action, set out in the Lisbon Treaty and reaffirmed by the European Consensus on Humanitarian Aid, must continue to be the cornerstone of its global leadership. Thank you Maria Groenewald, thank you VOICE.
I invite you to read these interviews and article published in the edition :
Humanitarian letter to Jean Noël Barrot, French Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs.
Demographic challenges : United Nations World Population Prospects 2024 UNDSA