The violence and humiliation of Armenian female servicepersons by the Azerbaijani armed forces

The Human Rights Defender of Armenia referred to the cases of violence and humiliation of Armenian female servicepersons by the Azerbaijani armed forces within the framework of the annual international campaign "16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence".

During the military attack unleashed by Azerbaijan against Armenia in September of this year, the cases of violence, humiliation and particularly cruel treatment of Armenian female servicepersons by Azerbaijani armed forces conditioned by nationality and gender of the servicepersons, are highly condemnable.

They should be objectively examined and lead to adequate punishments.

The atrocities committed by Azerbaijani armed forces substantiate the extremely dangerous nature of violence based on gender hatred, especially during international armed conflicts.

It is particularly concerning that news about gender and ethnic-based hate crimes was endorsed and encouraged by thousands of Azerbaijani real social media users during and after the military attack unleashed by Azerbaijan on Armenia on September 13-14.

Failure to punish perpetrators and the failure of states to make sincere efforts to counter such public treatment will only strengthen the sense of impunity for any gender or ethnic-based hate crime, regardless of the nationality of the victims.