On December 4, 2024, CHW released its sixth Monitoring Report, its first since the expulsion of over 100,000 Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh in September 2023. The report details impacts to cultural heritage in the region, documenting the devastating toll that new construction in Shusha/Shushi is causing to Armenian sites and the significant vulnerability of historic Armenian cemeteries in the region. In all, the report documents damage to 4 sites and new threats to 3 more.
Since CHW began its monitoring program in 2021, we have assessed 44 sites as threatened, destroyed, or damaged. The number of threatened sites is rising sharply. And incidents of damage are increasing steadily despite the International Court of Justice’s December 2021 order that Azerbaijan prevent such abuses.
Following the violence and expulsions of September 2023, CHW now faces the daunting prospect of expanding our monitoring to encompass the entire Armenian heritage-scape of Nagorno-Karabakh, a database of almost 500 historic monasteries, churches, and cemeteries. the map below gives a sense of the challenge now in front of us.
In this giving season, we ask the public to support our work to monitor heritage endangered by the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. We welcome small donations from all who think CHW is doing important work to counter state denialism, encourage accountability, and support informed debate. To give to CHW’s current crowdfunding initiative at Cornell University, follow the QR code. There are 11 days left in this campaign. But you can make a tax-deductible donation anytime through the Aragats Foundation’s appeal for CHW.
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