IV 
118TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. RES. 1327 
Condemning Azerbaijan for perpetrating an ethnic cleansing campaign against 
the Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JUNE 27, 2024 
Ms. ESHOO (for herself and Mr. SMITH of New Jersey) submitted the 
following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 
RESOLUTION 
Condemning Azerbaijan for perpetrating an ethnic cleansing 
campaign against the Armenian population of Nagorno- 
Karabakh. 
Whereas Nagorno-Karabakh is part of the traditional home-
land of the Armenian people and has been a center of Ar-
menian life and culture for millennia; 
Whereas, following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 
1991, the Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh es-
tablished a de facto independent republic, known as the 
Republic of Artsakh, to exercise self-determination in 
their homeland; 
Whereas, on December 12, 2022, Azerbaijan initiated a 
grueling blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh that deprived the 
region’s population of food, medicine, fuel, and other ne-
cessities for nearly 10 months; 
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•HRES 1327 IH 
Whereas, on September 19, 2023, Azerbaijan launched a full- 
scale military offensive against the Armenian population 
of Nagorno-Karabakh that took the lives of hundreds of 
soldiers and dozens of civilians; 
Whereas Azerbaijan used the threat of further violence to co-
erce the Armenian leadership of Nagorno-Karabakh to 
surrender their autonomy and dissolve their governing in-
stitutions; 
Whereas over 100,000 Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh, fac-
ing the threat of further ethnic violence, fled the territory 
as refugees within 2 weeks of Azerbaijan’s assault; 
Whereas the rhetoric of President Ilham Aliyev and other Az-
erbaijani officials demonstrates a clear ethnic animus mo-
tivating their anti-Armenian aggression; 
Whereas international legal experts, including former Chief 
Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court Luis 
Moreno Ocampo and former United Nations genocide ex-
pert Juan Mendez, have determined that Azerbaijan’s 
blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh violated the United Na-
tions Genocide Convention; 
Whereas Azerbaijani forces have systemically destroyed Ar-
menian cultural heritage sites in Nagorno-Karabakh, in-
cluding churches, monasteries, cemeteries, and other cul-
tural monuments; 
Whereas the United States Commission on International Reli-
gious Freedom recommends that Azerbaijan be des-
ignated as a country of particular concern, in part be-
cause of the destruction of Christian religious sites in 
Nagorno-Karabakh; 
Whereas, according to the Armenian Government, dozens of 
Armenian prisoners of war, civilian captives, and mem-
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•HRES 1327 IH 
bers of the political leadership of Nagorno-Karabakh are 
now unjustly imprisoned in Azerbaijan on politically mo-
tivated charges or no charges at all; 
Whereas the political leaders of Nagorno-Karabakh now im-
prisoned by Azerbaijan include Davit Manukyan, Davit 
Babayan, Levon Mnatsakanyan, Arkadi Ghukasyan, 
Bako Sahakyan, Arayik Harutyunyan, Davit Ishkhanyan, 
and Ruben Vardanyan; 
Whereas the true number of Armenians held captive by Azer-
baijan is likely higher than the Armenian Government’s 
count given the many individuals who are still missing 
and the lack of transparency surrounding Azerbaijan’s 
detention practices; 
Whereas Azerbaijan has a well-documented record of sub-
jecting Armenian prisoners to torture, humiliation, and 
other violations of fundamental rights afforded by the 
Geneva Conventions; 
Whereas, as a result of Azerbaijan’s ethnic cleansing cam-
paign, over 100,000 displaced persons from Nagorno- 
Karabakh now seek refuge in Armenia where they face 
difficulties accessing housing, food security, employment, 
and health care; 
Whereas the United States has provided a vastly insufficient 
amount of humanitarian aid to respond to the refugee 
crisis in Armenia; 
Whereas international law provides for a right of return for 
populations displaced from their country of origin, includ-
ing under the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human 
Rights, the 1966 Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 
the Fourth Geneva Convention, and the European Con-
vention on Human Rights to which Azerbaijan is a party; 
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•HRES 1327 IH 
Whereas the International Court of Justice issued a binding 
provisional measure in November 2023 requiring Azer-
baijan to provide for the safe, unimpeded, and expedi-
tious return of Armenian refugees who wish to return to 
their homes in Nagorno-Karabakh; 
Whereas, prior to the Azerbaijani assault on Nagorno- 
Karabakh, Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Eu-
rope and Eurasia Yuri Kim testified before Congress that 
the United States ‘‘will not tolerate’’ any Azerbaijani at-
tack on Nagorno-Karabakh; 
Whereas the United States has yet to impose meaningful ac-
countability measures on Azerbaijan for perpetrating an 
inhumane blockade and campaign of ethnic cleansing in 
Nagorno-Karabakh; 
Whereas failing to hold Azerbaijan accountable for ethnic 
cleansing emboldens Azerbaijan’s leaders to engage in 
further anti-Armenian aggression; 
Whereas, in recent years, Armenia has sought to deepen its 
ties to the United States and other liberal democracies 
and to distance itself from Russia; 
Whereas the United States has a special responsibility to en-
sure that Armenia’s security is not jeopardized because 
of its embrace of democracy and rejection of Vladimir 
Putin’s murderous regime; 
Whereas Azerbaijan illegally occupies 83 square miles of Ar-
menia’s internationally recognized territory that it cap-
tured in an unprovoked assault on Armenia in September 
2022; 
Whereas Azerbaijan continues to demand unilateral territorial 
concessions from Armenia through the threat of force, 
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•HRES 1327 IH 
often referring to portions of sovereign Armenian terri-
tory as ‘‘western Azerbaijan’’; 
Whereas the United States has taken a direct role in facili-
tating a durable conflict-resolution process between Ar-
menia and Azerbaijan; and 
Whereas Azerbaijan’s ongoing aggression against the Repub-
lic of Armenia and its refusal to adhere to international 
law undermine efforts to achieve a just peace in the re-
gion: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 
(1) condemns, in the strongest possible terms, 
the atrocities perpetrated by Azerbaijan against the 
Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh; 
(2) recognizes that Azerbaijan’s blockade and 
subsequent military offensive against the Armenian 
population of Nagorno-Karabakh constitute acts of 
ethnic cleansing; 
(3) affirms the fundamental right of displaced 
Armenians to return to their homes in Nagorno- 
Karabakh with strong protections in place to ensure 
their security; and 
(4) calls on the President and the relevant Fed-
eral agencies to take immediate action to— 
(A) impose targeted sanctions on Azer-
baijani Government officials complicit in human 
rights abuses; 
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•HRES 1327 IH 
(B) prohibit the provision of United States 
military aid to Azerbaijan pursuant to section 
907 of the FREEDOM Support Act; 
(C) make a public determination as to 
whether the atrocities committed by Azerbaijan 
against the Armenian population of Nagorno- 
Karabakh constitute ethnic cleansing; 
(D) provide robust humanitarian assist-
ance to respond to the refugee crisis in Armenia 
and rally the international community to do the 
same; 
(E) strengthen the United States-Armenia 
security partnership through the provision of 
military aid, joint military exercises, and intel-
ligence and logistical support; and 
(F) facilitate diplomacy to achieve a just 
and lasting peace in the South Caucasus that 
provides for the release of all Armenians un-
justly imprisoned by Azerbaijan, establishes a 
right of return and security guarantees for the 
displaced Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh, and 
preserves the Armenian cultural heritage of 
Nagorno-Karabakh. 
Æ 
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