Forced displacement in Azerbaijan is a consequence of the military aggression by Armenia and ethnic cleansing conducted in the territories of Azerbaijan in the beginning of the 1990s. A as a result of the conflict more than a million Azerbaijanis were forcefully displaced from their native lands, among them hundreds of thousands of Azerbaijani refugees fled from Armenia who were subsequently granted citizenship of Azerbaijan. All forcefully displaced people in Azerbaijan were temporarily settled in more than 1600 heavily populated settlements in 12 tent camps, villages consisting of railroad cargo-vans, half-constructed buildings, public facilities and etc. 

   

Tent camps and railroad cargo-van villages in Azerbaijan in 1990s

Armenia’s next aggression attempt last year yet again severely affected the lives of hundreds of thousands people in Azerbaijan. 84 thousand persons were forced to temporarily leave their places of habitual residence, among them the IDPs who repetitively suffered the tragedy of forced displacement. Though most of these people have returned home with the rapid and effective respond from the Government to their recent displacement, 85 displaced families in Tartar region of Azerbaijan who suffered tremendously from deliberate artillery shelling of civilian objects are still in shelters.

  

   

A home and school destroyed in Azerbaijan in 2020 by the Armenian forces

The situation of the displaced persons in Azerbaijan is notable for several reasons. The first is that, in a country of a little over 10 million citizens (7 million during the displacement), Azerbaijan hosts one of the largest per capita displaced populations in the world. Furthermore, unlike many situations of internal displacement, in Azerbaijan the displaced persons enjoy the same rights as other citizens and do not experience discrimination. The other important distinction is that the Government of Azerbaijan, since undergoing from the beginning of the 2000s substantial economic growth, has assumed full responsibility for improving living conditions of the IDPs while encouraging continued engagement of international organizations. Azerbaijan is one of the prodigious countries in the world having pursued prudent economic policy transformed itself from a recipient of humanitarian aid to a donor country.

Since 1998 the Government of Azerbaijan has been implementing the strategy for amelioration of living conditions of the forcefully displaced population, providing them with social assistance and benefits, and construction of more than hundred new, compact and modern residential areas for their temporary settlement. The national authorities managed to achieve significant progress in improving living conditions of the forcefully displaced population by eliminating all tent camps and cargo-van villages and providing 315,000 people living in dire conditions with temporarily homes in the newly established settlements without prejudice to their right to voluntary, safe and dignified return which has been sought for more than 25 years through diplomatic negotiations for the peaceful resolution of the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

   

Newly constructed settlements for the IDPs in Azerbaijan

The right of unconditional and safe return of Azerbaijani displaced population was confirmed in dozens of resolutions and decisions of the UN General Assembly, Security Council, OIC, PACE, OSCE, European Court of Human Rights and etc. At the same time, international expert community commended Azerbaijan’s progressive measures for assisting effectively its displaced population and setting one of the exemplary practices in this field. In 2014 the Special Rapporteur on human rights of IDPs of the UN acclaimed the Government of Azerbaijan for its dedication to the issue of internal displacement and for continuing to assume the primary responsibility for the protection and assistance of persons internally displaced by the armed conflict and indicated that "one of the main obstacles in the search for durable solutions for IDPs in Azerbaijan remains the absence of a political settlement to the unresolved conflict in and around the Nagorno-Karabakh region of the Republic of Azerbaijan”. He notably called on the international community and all parties concerned to work towards reaching a peaceful settlement to the conflict, with the aim of fully restoring the human rights of IDPs in Azerbaijan, in particular their right to voluntary return in safety and dignity.     

The main priorities of the Government of Azerbaijan after the liberation of its territories in 2020 from three decades long occupation are to clear these territories from mines and other unexploded ordna