Azerbaijani NGOs demand to suspend development of Gyzylbulag and Demirli fields in Karabakh

Baku/12.12.22/Turan: Members of the Azerbaijan NGO Coalition on Transparency in the Extractive Industry condemned on December 10 the Russian peacekeepers for not providing an access of representatives of Azerbaijani governmental agencies to Gyzylbulag and Demirli deposits in Karabakh.

In a statement of the coalition it was stated that Gyzylbulag deposit has gold deposits with commercial reserves of 13.6 industrial units, and 47.9 million tons of copper.

The Demirli deposit has copper reserves of 100 million tonnes.

Besides, the Mehman deposit has reserves of 37.3 million tons of lead and 40.4 million tons of zinc.

In addition, there is a Janyatag-Gyulyatag gold deposit in Agdere.

As noted in the statement, the development of these fields is carried out in violation of Azerbaijani law and international law.

This is international humanitarian law, and in particular the IV Hague Regulations of 1907 and the IV Geneva Convention of 1949.

In particular, the Geneva Convention on occupied territories prohibits companies from extracting minerals on territories that have been occupied for a long time and whose actual status is unclear. The occupying state has no legal authority to exploit any natural resources or property in the occupied territories.

According to the international Coalition of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, companies must conclude a contract with the state that has the legal rights to exploit natural resources.

The coalition demanded an immediate cessation of mining operations at Demirli and Gyzylbulag and urgent monitoring with civil society participation and information on how the mines were operated there.

The NGO coalition calls on international organisations as well as the EITI International Secretariat to take steps to implement appropriate international legal measures against Armenia, as the occupying state, and the companies that continue to operate illegally in these territories of Azerbaijan.

It is also proposed to take legal action against Armenia to redress the illegal exploitation of Azerbaijan's natural resources.

At the same time the coalition called on the government of Azerbaijan to restore participation in the EITI and ensure public access to contracts for the exploitation of natural resources in the liberated territories, to facilitate NGO activities to monitor the implementation of these contracts. -06В-