For nine months, the people of Nagorno-Karabakh endured an Azerbaijani blockade that cut off essential supplies and medical evacuations.
The International Committee of the Red Cross was the only international humanitarian organization with a mandate to bring supplies in and people out. But they were repeatedly confronted with severe obstruction from the Azerbaijani government.
Over 1,500 people, including 800 medical patients, were evacuated — but more than twice as many were in need.
A former ICRC employee told us how bureaucratic hurdles and outright bans on movement made it ever-more-difficult to evacuate the sick. ‘Each next convoy was harder, harder, harder,’ the employee said. At one point, evacuations were halted for an entire month.
In addition, a local member of the Red Cross movement — the Azerbaijani Red Crescent — joined the Azerbaijani government line. Closely tied to President Ilham Aliyev’s regime, the organization publicly questioned the suffering of the people blockaded in Nagorno-Karabakh even as food and medicine ran out and kindergartens closed due to lack of supplies.
Our latest story, published today, isn’t just about a blockade. It’s a look at what happens to ordinary people when humanitarian aid is politicized.
2 Comments
For nine months, the people of Nagorno-Karabakh endured an Azerbaijani blockade that cut off essential supplies and medical evacuations.
The International Committee of the Red Cross was the only international humanitarian organization with a mandate to bring supplies in and people out. But they were repeatedly confronted with severe obstruction from the Azerbaijani government.
Over 1,500 people, including 800 medical patients, were evacuated — but more than twice as many were in need.
A former ICRC employee told us how bureaucratic hurdles and outright bans on movement made it ever-more-difficult to evacuate the sick. ‘Each next convoy was harder, harder, harder,’ the employee said. At one point, evacuations were halted for an entire month.
In addition, a local member of the Red Cross movement — the Azerbaijani Red Crescent — joined the Azerbaijani government line. Closely tied to President Ilham Aliyev’s regime, the organization publicly questioned the suffering of the people blockaded in Nagorno-Karabakh even as food and medicine ran out and kindergartens closed due to lack of supplies.
Our latest story, published today, isn’t just about a blockade. It’s a look at what happens to ordinary people when humanitarian aid is politicized.
Read our full story to learn more: [https://www.occrp.org/en/feature/we-couldnt-work-properly-how-azerbaijan-obstructed-red-cross-relief-during-the-nagorno-karabakh-siege](https://www.occrp.org/en/feature/we-couldnt-work-properly-how-azerbaijan-obstructed-red-cross-relief-during-the-nagorno-karabakh-siege)
Holy shit lol I didn’t
know the OCCRP have a bloody damn reddit account lol.
Just don’t post this in r/Azerbaijan lol