Syria’s thirsty northeast

Since June 2021, Turkey has reduced the amount of water in the Euphrates for Syria from 500 m3 second to 214m3 by holding this water in its upstream dams.

We drive at a slow pace on the floating bridge over the Tigris River to enter Syria from Iraq. The Turkish border is close. Faysh Khabur is the only crossing point to enter this northeastern Syrian region, which is now landlocked between Turkey and the territory controlled to the west by the Syrian authorities in Damascus.

This region located between the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers is under the control of the Syrian Democratic Council led by the Kurds with Arabs and representatives of what remains here of the Syriac and Armenian Christians driven out of their lands as well as many Kurds. This territory has been the scene of bitter and deadly fighting by Kurdish forces against the jihadists of Daech, from the battle of Kobane to that of Raqqa with the support of the International Coalition including France, the United States and Great Britain.

Raqqua, as in Kobane, a destructive, building-by-building war that Kurdish fighters, women and men, won against Daech at the cost of heavy losses. @Mahmoud Bali

I am traveling in good company with Bernard Kouchner, former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Patrice Franceschi, a committed writer who has just published a novel about the Kurdish women fighters, the Yapajas, and Gérard Chaliand, a geostrategist, all three of whom have been in this region for many years. With them, I am here as a humanitarian specialist in water.

We have been invited by the North-East Syrian Self-Administration (AANES) to participate in an “International Forum for Water in North-East Syria” which is being held in the city of Hassakeh on September 27 and 28. For this region of the North-East is today at the center of a triple water crisis that seriously disrupts and threatens the daily life of its inhabitants and populations forcibly displaced by the fighting that has been taking place in Syria for more than 10 years now.

Along the road to Amuda, abandoned buildings under construction. @Alain Boinet

Here, the earth is uniformly flat. The protective mountains are on the other side, in Kurdistan of Iraq. Along the road, we discover a ghost town with its alignments of unfinished, empty, abandoned buildings. Farther on, small oil wells appear, like tumbleweeds that supply the local fuel. Here and there, in the plain, flocks of sheep, one of the rare resources of the region.

In the car, throughout the hours, discussions are going well on the imbroglio which reigns here, on the fate of the populations and their very uncertain future but with the hope pegged to the body. On the road, one regularly crosses Russian or American military convoys and the Turks are not far. Half a day’s drive later, we reach our destination, the town of Amuda, where the Auto Administration receives us in a house for passing guests.

International Forum for Water in North-East Syria.

The next day, the welcome is warm in Hassakeh in the hall of the vast amphitheater where the Forum takes place. The program is dense and rich with 23 speakers, mainly Kurdish, Arab, with guests from Iraq, France, Austria, Great Britain or South Africa. Representatives of international humanitarian NGOs active in the region are also there.

Opening speech by Bernard Kouchner of the International Water Forum in Northeast Syria.

In his opening speech, Bernard Kouchner, a guest of honor well known to the Kurds, insisted on the risks that Turkey poses to the populations by cutting off or limiting the volume of water essential to daily life and he saluted with great conviction the action of local and international NGOs.

For Patrice Franceschi who succeeded him, this deliberate rarefaction of available water is a “silent” war that aims to weaken the populations and this is an eminently political and diplomatic issue.

Gérard Chaliand, will conclude that despite the errors and uncertainties “no one can force you not to be what you are“. It is the whole question of the right of peoples to self-determination that he reminds us of.

At the podium, experts will succeed to specialists to show, evaluate, analyze the consequences of the drought that affects the whole region, the cut of the drinking water station of Ah Houq and the drastic reduction of the water level of the Euphrates whose source is in Turkey which retains it upstream in a large number of dams.

By way of introduction, a speaker recalled the treaties and agreements signed between Turkey, Syria and Iraq and still relevant. All disciplines are present in this Forum to deal with the subject of water: international law, political science, economics, environment, agriculture, biotechnology, geography, architecture, geology, research, humanitarian. Listening to them express themselves and debate, one discovers the high level of training and competence that exists and that remains involved in the face of the serious difficulties that the populations are confronted with in their daily lives and that lead some to take the uncertain path of exile against their will.

I am personally invited as a water specialist and administrator of several organizations, coordination and think tank dedicated to water and sanitation, to emergency and reconstruction situations as well as to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (2015-2030) which foresee in its Goal 6 a universal access to drinking water for all in the world. It is in this capacity that I am taking the floor at the Forum to remind you of what we all know: water is life, it is a global public good, and that rationing, if not deliberately cutting off water to populations in order to wage war, is contrary to International Humanitarian Law (IHL), which applies to all in conflicts.

Alain Boinet in front of the Forum entrance with participants. @Alain Boinet

At the end of the morning, we take our meals all together in a large room around common tables. It is there, around a dish, that I meet the members of the Forum of NGOs in North-East Syria and other representatives of NGOs from Baghdad and mobilized on the defense of the Tigris River which, coming from Turkey, serves Iraq where it joins the Euphrates to form a common estuary, the Shatt-el-Arab, 200 km long, which opens into the Persian Gulf.

Then, it’s time for “tchaï”, tea and “Cawa”, coffee, under a big tent which protects us from a burning sun which overhangs us in the blue sky. It is also the time of reunion when old friends and acquaintances meet with Bernard Kouchner. Hugs and memories follow. I myself am surprised to be approached by three young people, one man and two women, who want to take a selfie. They say: “Okay, but first tell me how you know me“. “We saw you on the screen of the Forum and we recognized you”. After the pictures, in the discussion, I discover that they work for the coordination of humanitarian INGOs for water, sanitation and hygiene.

I cannot summarize so many interventions and debates during these two days of Forum in Hassakeh because of the diversity and density of the remarks as well as the videos illustrating the subject as close to reality as possible. However, I must now present the why and how of this triple water crisis that is slowly thirsting the population and agriculture.

The triple water crisis in Northeast Syria (NES)

For a long time, as a humanitarian activist for access to drinking water, sanitation and hygiene for all in the world, I had many opportunities to intervene for access to water in Afghanistan, DRC, Mali, Lebanon and elsewhere and to publish and advocate for the cause of water in Geneva, Istanbul, Marseille, Daegu, Paris or Dakar and, today, in North-East Syria.

The information presented here, the figures in particular, are based on information from the AANES and, for the most part, from the NES Forum, which brings together and coordinates the humanitarian action of 14 INGOs in 16 different fields, from water to health, from food security to energy, and including education. It should be remembered that the UN agencies and the ICRC do not have the authorization of the Damascus authorities to intervene in the NES, with the exception of a few government enclaves and IDP camps.

To return to the triple water crisis, it stems from the combination of a severe drought throughout the region in 2020-2021, the cutting off of drinking water from the Al Houq station, and the sharp decline in the water level in the Euphrates.

The water crisis of drought. In 2020-2021, rainfall decreased by 50-70% in the entire region according to FAO. Specifically, AANES calculates that the decrease is more than 75% for rainfed crops and 10-25% for irrigated crops. There are two seasons in Syria for harvesting, the winter season from November to May and the summer season from June to September. The drought and the sharp decrease in water in the Euphrates River are causing an increase in food insecurity as the NES produces 80% of wheat and barley in Syria. Thus, this year, barley production has dropped from 2.2 million tons to 450,000 tons!

 

Map showing the location of the Hal Houq drinking water station located in Turkish occupied Syrian territory.

The crisis of the Hal Houq drinking water station. This station is located in Syria on a territory between Ras-al-Ain and Tel Abiad, which for a length of 100 km and a width of 30 km was annexed by Turkey after a two-month military offensive launched on October 9, 2019. Since then, the Kurdish populations originally from this area have fled and are now living in IDP camps. They have been replaced by Syrian Arab populations who were refugees in Turkey as well as many jihadists.

This station is therefore under the control of the Turkish authorities who since October 2019 operate regular water cuts. Since the summer of 2021 the water cut is total. However, this station is the only one that can supply the populations of Hassakeh and the surrounding villages as well as the four camps of displaced persons. This represents 460,000 inhabitants and 99,000 displaced persons.

Distribution of drinking water by tanker by humanitarian organizations.

This is where several international humanitarian INGOs had to intervene urgently with water trucks, or “water trucking”, to continuously supply the IDP camps, the informal reception centers and the inhabitants. Local private companies are also drilling into groundwater and selling the water to residents.

The Euphrates River water crisis.

Coming from Turkey where it has its source, the Euphrates River crosses Syria from North to South and then enters Iraq where it joins the Tigris and then the Persian Gulf. In agreements signed in 1987 and still in force, Turkey undertook to supply 500 m3 of water per second to Damascus. For its part, in 1989, Syria signed a bilateral agreement with Iraq providing that 52% of the waters of the Euphrates would return to Baghdad.

However, since June this year, the amount of water entering Syria has fallen to 214 m3 per second, a sudden drop of 60% with many consequences for the people of the region, both in the northeast and in the western part of the river under the control of the Syrian government in Damascus. Thus, 54 of the 73 water abstraction stations located in the west have seen their capacities greatly reduced, as well as 44 of the 126 stations located on the eastern bank of the NES, impacting 38 communities, camps and collective and informal reception centers for displaced people.

Current water level compared to the usual level at Tishreen Dam.

This has had immediate consequences for the population. For example, the Tishreen hydroelectric dam, the first dam on the Euphrates River in Syria, can now only use 2 of its 6 turbines producing 5 to 6 hours of electricity per day (February 2021) instead of 12 to 14 hours (June 2021). We can see the consequences for families, hospitals, public services, stores and farms! A little further down, the Tabqa dam is at 20% of its normal level, very close as in Tishreen to the “dead level” below which the turbines would be irreparably damaged.

Very low water level at Al-Suwah station in Deir-Ez-Zohr in southern Syria

At the water stations along the river, this decrease in water level reduces the water available for family consumption as well as for crop irrigation. Finally, the chemical and bacteriological concentration of water from sewage and agricultural and industrial waste is causing an increase in water-borne diseases, particularly diarrhea, which is increasing infant mortality in the absence of anti-diarrheal medication. Not to mention the alarming increase in cases of malnutrition among young children.

The consequences are striking according to international humanitarian organizations:

  • 5.5 million people are at risk due to lack of drinking water in the NES and Aleppo governorate.
  • 3 million people are affected by the reduction of electrical power.
  • 5 million people are affected by reduced food livelihoods.

 

Conclusion.

The conclusion of this Forum attended by more than 150 experts ended in a studious and cordial atmosphere.

Gérard Chaliand with participants at the end of the International Water Forum in Northeast Syria.

In this triple water crisis, we must distinguish between the drought that affects all the countries in the region, including Turkey, and the use of the Al Houq station and the water of the Euphrates as a means of pressure on the populations and the NES authorities.

Turkey is actively pursuing the development of its huge project (GAP) to build 22 dams and 19 hydroelectric plants upstream of Syria and Iraq and can at any time reduce or cut off their water!

The humanitarian consequences are immediate in the NES for 2.6 million inhabitants and displaced persons, according to humanitarian organizations, of which 1.8 million require humanitarian aid while several factors of vulnerability (severe restriction of drinking water and for agriculture, decrease in agricultural production, water-borne diseases, increase in prices) combine for the worst. For example, the self-administration indicates that 72% of farmers are suffering from reduced wheat harvests and stocks are at a dangerously low level before winter.

In the immediate future, the first emergency is humanitarian. The NES Forum and its 14 INGOs are doing a tremendous amount of work, but according to their assessment, there is a shortfall of US$215 million to meet basic needs, of which US$122 million is needed now, both for immediate needs and to expand wheat production for the next season.

Statement on social networks of Bernard Kouchner received by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the self-government, Mr. Abdul Karim Omar.

In terms of hydro-diplomacy, it is necessary to return to the international reference framework Conventions: the Helsinki Convention of 1992 and the New York Convention of 1997. These refer to the “equitable and reasonable use” of water between riparian countries as well as the “obligation not to cause damage to the use of other States“.

In this perspective, the Al Houq station must open the drinking water valves again and the station should be accessible to the United Nations and the ICRC in particular. On the other hand, in accordance with its commitments, Turkey must again deliver 500 m3 of water per second into the Euphrates for the populations in Syria and Iraq.

On the way back to Paris, if I am sure that the humanitarians as well as the NES self-administration will do everything they can for the populations in danger, for the most part it is now up to the hydro-diplomacy to act to avoid the worst if this situation were to last.

 

Alain Boinet back from North East Syria.

 

 

To the rescue of Armenians

Information mission led by Bernard Kouchner, former minister and co-founder of MSF and MDM, Patrice Franceschi, writer and former president of the Society of French Explorers and Alain Boinet, president of Défis Humanitaires and founder of Solidarités International on invitation of the Aurora Foundation.

Logbook. I took part in this information mission on a personal basis and my comments are my personal opinion. I hope that they will be useful to humanitarians and other stakeholders involved in the humanitarian field.

Alain Boinet.

Russian soldier at one of the roadblocks in the Latchin corridor ©P.Franceschi

Russian soldiers stop us and ask for our visas. These are essential to take the Latchine corridor to reach Artsack, also called Haut Karabagh, 7 hours away from Yerevan, the capital of Armenia.

We are here with Bernard Kouchner, former Minister of Foreign Affairs and Health, Patrice Franceschi, writer and former president of the Society of French Explorers, and myself, invited by the Aurora Foundation with Nicola, Yanna and Narine, who are leading this information mission on the various aspects of the situation following the 44-day war that began on September 27, 2020 in Artsack or Nagorno Karabagh, between Armenians and Azeris. This ended on 9 November 2020 with an agreement concluded by Russia which put an end to the war.

At the roadblocks along the road, the Russians are well equipped with armored vehicles and entrenched in their fortified bases along this corridor that is now the only entrance and exit because the Azerbaijani army surrounds Artsack.

Halo-Trust deminers in action around Stephanakert and demining plan to clear cluster bombs ©A.Boinet

In the surroundings of Stepanakert, capital of the Artsack, which the Azeris have shelled with cluster bombs [1], explosive devices scattered here and there pollute large areas and localities.

We are joining a team from the NGO Halo-Trust, specialized in mine clearance and which has to clear an 800 m2 area. Other teams are operating elsewhere and one of their cars recently exploded on an anti-tank mine, killing its four occupants instantly. About ten men are raking a garden, side by side, with their sound detection device. They advance cautiously, signaling with colored stakes explosive devices in the grass, which are then disarmed and destroyed. This is vital, as these devices can kill or maim at any time over many years and paralyses the resumption of activities.

At the end of the day, during a dinner with Ashot Ghulyan and Davit Babayan, Minister of Foreign Affairs of this small, unrecognized and self-proclaimed territory, behind the words we feel the weight of defeat, encirclement, isolation, uncertainty in the future, but also a fierce determination to stay alive in their ancestral land. A little provoking, it calls out to us. Those who say they are with us must support us. And we feel that this message is also addressed to Armenia.

Rehabilitation of the war-disabled at the Lady Cox Reabilitation Center supported by the Aurora Foundation. On the right, Bernard Kouchner and the director of the Rehabilitation Center ©A.Boinet

The next day, in the buildings of The Lady Cox rehabilitation centrer, we discover young people injured during the conflict and disabled. They cannot stand, walk or sit down, they cannot urinate neither. More or less paralyzed for life, physiotherapists help them to rehabilitate vital functions allowing them to regain autonomy, motor skills, flexibility and strength. The faces are severe and concentrated on effort and pain. Bernard Kouchner and the director of the Centre take stock on the needs of the center that the Aurora Foundation [2] supports and for its extension projects.

Will these disabled people be able to regain their motor skills so that they can, one day, return to work and support a family? There are also children, civilians, autistics who have been monitored for a long time. More than a thousand of them benefit from the care of this center, the only one existing in Artsack while the need for care exploded.

College n°10 bombed and closed in Artsack ©Nelly

Here, as in Yerevan, we are talking about 5000 people killed on the Armenian side. An official of the European Union representation in Armenia evokes in front of us the figures of 3500 Armenian deaths, 99% of which are soldiers and 500 to 700 bodies not identified yet. The majority of them were volunteers, students in particular.  The number of injured seems difficult to estimate at this time. There are also missing persons and prisoners that the ICRC [3] is actively looking in conformity with its mandate. On the Azeri side, there might be 2800 dead and 50 missing, not to mention the Syrian jihadists who came to fight with the support of the Turkish authorities.

In this new war [4], the Armenians would have lost at least 70% of the 11,400 km of Artsack territory, driving out the population and losing the corresponding economic resources. Originally inhabited by 150,000 people, 40,000 are still displaced today, mainly in Armenia. During a lunch with him, the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Armenia, Shombi Sharp, discuss the official figure of 22,500, admitting that it may be around 30,000. Many houses and schools have also been destroyed, such as this college No. 10 in Stepanakert, which now remains closed.

Many Artsack Armenians have gone into exile, fleeing their villages and cities like Shusi, the cultural capital, losing about 1500 monuments of their historical heritage out of 4000 in total. One of the most urgent priorities is the construction of houses and housing to accommodate the forcibly displaced families, and then to provide them with employment. The consequences of the war are numerous and weaken the population in many areas: health services, jobs, agriculture, security, electricity. There is no doubt that after this war, the population of Artsack is weakened and that it will not be able to cope on its own without external aid in the long term.

At the northern exit of Stepanakert, on the road to Asteran, we discover on the top of a hill the symbol of this self-proclaimed republic. It is a huge ochre statue representing the faces of a man and a woman who, according to tradition, declare “We are our mountains”. Mountains are everywhere here in this part of the South Caucasus.

In front of the monument symbolising Artsack “We are our mountains”. ©A.Boinet

A visit to the cultural center Charles Aznavour and the Centre francophone Paul Eluard is essential. It is an exceptional place of cultural expression in this climate of anxiety. A choir of women and men sings marvelously in Armenian as if their voices were rising from this land. Young dancers are busy rehearsing together the best of what they have learned. A breathtaking jazz orchestra transports us into the musical atmosphere of Ray Charles and Duke Ellington.

Young girls, learning French with Nelly, their teacher, sing a song as vibrant as it is moving: “Your beautiful days will be reborn again, after winter, after hell, the tree of life will grow for you Armenia”. Nelly, their young teacher, tells us. My mother worked here a long time ago with MSF. She encouraged me to learn French and I am now a teacher of this language, which makes us close to you. Even though Russian is a compulsory language in the school curriculum because Russia is close by and Armenia was a Republic of the USSR for more than 70 years (1920-1991).

Official dinner with the young Minister of Health, former military doctor, Michael Hayriyan who informs us that an official website will be created to list all the needs of the population in order to facilitate aid and its coordination. As is customary in this region of the Caucasus, he raises his glass for a toast. “The war is cruel, but we are optimistic,” he says. We toast, the French say “health” and the Armenians “kenas”, meaning “life”! Bernard Kouchner raises his glass and answers “That’s what we are here for, kenas”.

Nurses in formation at the Stephanakert Medical College ©A.Boinet

Before leaving for Yerevan at 7 hours drive, we visit the Medical College where we train nurses  in 3 years, including displaced students coming from the territories taken over by the Azerbaijan army. On the way back, again the 6 or 7 Russian check points where the controls are as attentive as on the outward journey.

Basically, we were lucky, because to pass through we need a visa delivered by the representation of the “Republic of Artsack” in Yerevan with the agreement of the Russians and, it is said, of the Azeris in the case of foreigners. It is not the same at this time for MSF-France whose Armenian staff can still pass, but no longer expatriates. Obviously, this ban on access is contrary to the rules of International Humanitarian Law, which requires the parties to the conflict to allow humanitarian aid to pass through. Similarly, the Azeri authorities have refused to allow two sections of MSF to come and treat people in Azerbaijan!

As we drive towards Yerevan in the middle of the snowy mountains, we learn from the media that the Prime Minister, Nikol Pachinian, is denouncing an attempted coup d’état by the army. The effects of the military defeat are repercussing on the Armenian political scene!

On the return to Yerevan, meetings and visits follow one another at a strong rhythm. Meeting at the Faculty of Medicine with the rector and 120 students on the theme “Crisis management at the global and regional level”. Bernard Kouchner is named doctor Honoris Causa and pleads for solidarity between Armenians. Patrice Franceschi draws a parallel between the situation in Artsack and the struggle of the Kurds in Syria. For my part, I present the international humanitarian action, its principles, its action and the needs identified in Artsack.

UFAR students killed in Artsack and minute of silence of our delegation with the French Ambassador and the Rector ©A.Boinet

A meeting at the French University in Armenia (UFAR) is particularly interesting and moving. The UFAR [5] presented by its rector, Bertrand Venard, has 1400 students between bachelor’s and doctorate levels. In partnership with the French Universities of Lyon III and Toulouse III, it delivers Armenian and French degrees. It now has a major development project for 2000 students on a new 12,000 m2 campus. The Ambassador of France, Jonathan Lacôte, warmly introduced Bernard Kouchner by reminding the importance, at the time, of the United Nations resolutions (43-131 and 45-100) that the Minister carried for the access to victims with the lawyer Mario Bettati. Bernard Kouchner then emphasizes that the purpose of these resolutions was precisely to make the victim a subject of international law.

Then we have a minute of silence for the UFAR students, whose photos adorn the entrance wall. All volunteers, some of whom, about a quarter, were doing their military service. They died in combat this autumn in Artsack. There were 22 volunteers, 10 died and 3 were wounded. It is as many fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, families and friends who have been hurt.

It is with this moving memory that we have an audience with the President of the Republic, Armen Sarkissian, despite the pro or anti-Prime Minister Street demonstrations and the ordeal awaited by the army, because forty senior officers have demanded the departure of Nikol Pachinian after the defeat for which they all blame each other.

The dinner that will take place next with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ara Aivazian, in the presence of the French Ambassador, will be more geopolitical and the occasion to celebrate the anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Republic of Armenia and the French Republic signed on behalf of our country by Bernard Kouchner on February 24, 1992.

Conclusion.

At the end of this mission of information and solidarity, we cannot say that Artsack is dealing with a humanitarian emergency in the sense of what we know in Yemen, Syria or the Central African Republic. The comparison would rather be with Romania, after the revolution of December 1989, or with Bosnia-Herzegovina.

In the time we have had, it appears that there are real needs in the field of health, medical equipment and particularly the rehabilitation of the war-disabled. On the other hand, there is a lot to do in the field of construction, mainly of houses and dwelling to accommodate displaced families, as we did in the past in Sarajevo, knowing that there are competent companies on site. Another area is the very lively French-speaking world and culture in general, books and audio-visual equipment. There are certainly Foundations, as the Aurora Foundation does well, NGOs, hospitals, cultural institutions, professional organizations, companies that can help to meet these needs now.

I would like to share here a reflection on humanitarian aid whose principles include neutrality, impartiality and independence which rightly stipulates that aid must be delivered solely on the basis of the vital needs of populations without any other selection criteria and this is true for the Armenian and Azeri populations.

However, the most threatened populations who are in a minority because of their ethnic or religious affiliation in a hostile environment are a criterion to consider. We can then think of the Tutsis, the Yezidis, the Rohingyas, the Uigurs, the Kurds, the Armenians of Artsack and others. Humanitarians must also take into account this objective risk factor and long-term vulnerability in order to help these populations with appropriate attention. How to forget that the Armenians were victims of the first genocide at the beginning of the century perpetrated by the Turkish authorities responsible at the time for the death of more than a million human beings.

I am not an expert of this region of the Caucasus and Armenia, but I have had some experience of crises for 40 years. If we wanted to stabilize the Artsack, perhaps we would have to start negotiations to delimit the territories of both sides. This was done well during the Dayton Accords signed in Paris to settle the territorial question between Serbs, Croats and Bosnians in Bosnia and Herzegovina. An attachment to Armenia, already requested in the past, could be a solution if the populations agree. Why not for Artsack, whose recognition the National Assembly and the Senate in France have recently called for.

In Artsack, what one feels at first is the feeling of insecurity for the present as well as for the future. Faced with this insecurity, the best response is always solidarity, ours.

Alain Boinet.

We are pleased to send you the 50th edition of Défis Humanitaires published for the past 3 years. This year, we have several projects to develop the website and we need your support to continue our mission of information and reflection at the service of humanitarian action. You can participate personally by making a donation on the HelloAsso platform. Thank you in advance for your support for this project, which is intended for you.

To find out more about the humanitarian situation in Armenia:

Consult the United Nations Inter-Agency Response Plan for Armenia

Testimony of Olivier Faure on the return of the Artsack. We are publishing this document just and loudly as we would for any other politician witnessing the situation in Artsack.

Video of our visit in Artsack published by the Aurora foundation

Video of our visit in Armenia published by the Aurora foundation


[1] The cluster bomb (cluster munition) is a container carrying many projectiles that strike a large area. Some of the projectiles do not explode and remain dangerous. Humanitarian organizations such as Handicap International/Humanity and Inclusion and the Red Cross have long been denouncing this type of weapon. A treaty has been adopted by more than a hundred countries, including France, to prohibit and destroy them

[2] Aurora Foundation – auroraprize.com

[3] The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) based in Geneva is in charge, in particular, of visiting prisoners with the agreement of those holding them and of searching for the missing.

[4] New war. A first war took place between Armenians and Azeris between 1992 and 1994, during which the Armenians took control of predominantly Azeri territories forcing the Azeris into exile. This new war allowed the Azeris to regain control of 7 districts. To better understand this situation, please refer to the specialized sites on this subject.

[5] UFAR: http://www.ufar.am