POLITICS
17 YEARS PASSED SINCE AZERBAIJAN JOINED UNITED NATIONS
Baku, 3 March (AZERTAC). Seventeen years passed since Azerbaijan Republic has joined the United Nations Organization. Azerbaijan was admitted as a Member of the United Nations by General Assembly Resolution at the 46th session on 22 May 1992. Since then national flag of Azerbaijan, the 181st member of the United Nations Organization, was raised outside the UN Headquarters in New York.
The Permanent Mission of the Republic of Azerbaijan to the United Nations was opened in New York on May 6, 1992. Beginning from the very first day of the cooperation with the United Nations, Azerbaijan used the platform of the United Nations to draw the international community`s attention to the Armenian aggression against Azerbaijan and subsequent Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over Nagorno Karabakh, and use United Nations potential and international laws for its peaceful settlement.
During 1993 the UN Security Council adopted four Resolutions - 822, 853, 874 and 884 on the Armenian-Azerbaijan conflict over Nagorno Karabakh. Each of the abovementioned resolutions was adopted following the subsequent occupation of Nagorno Karabakh region and other territories of the Republic of Azerbaijan by the Armenian armed forces. These resolutions reaffirmed the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, demanded immediate cease-fire, suspension of hostilities and withdrawal of the occupant forces from the territory of the Republic of Azerbaijan.
In September 1994 at the 49th session of the UN General Assembly, the then President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Heydar Aliyev, who headed the Delegation of the Republic of Azerbaijan, delivered a speech highlighting the situation in Azerbaijan and the Armenian aggression. Later in 1995, at the 50th session of the UN GA Heydar Aliyev stated the position of Azerbaijan regarding the Armenian-Azerbaijan conflict over Nagorno Karabakh and appealed to the world community to put an end to Armenian aggression against Azerbaijan.
The 50th jubilee of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was marked in 1998 in Azerbaijan following the national leader Heydar Aliyev’s Decree. Also in 1998 the capital punishment and censorship were abolished in Azerbaijan.
In September 2004, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev addressed the 59th session of the UN General Assembly focusing on non-compliance with four resolutions of the United Nations Security Council on Armenian-Azerbaijan conflict over Nagorno Karabakh. The Azerbaijan President underscored significance of efficient mechanisms for execution of UN decisions. Azerbaijan succeeded in its efforts and last year on March 14 the United Nations General Assembly adopted the draft resolution on the situation in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan. The document implies support and respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Republic of Azerbaijan within the internationally recognized borders, calls for the immediate, complete and unconditional withdrawal of Armenian forces from all the occupied territories of the Republic of Azerbaijan and reaffirms the inalienable right of the population expelled from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan to return to their homelands.
Azerbaijan maintains cooperation with a wide range of specialized UN agencies and bodies such as UNDP, UNICEF, UNHCR, UNESCO, UNCTAD, IAEA and other organizations.