POLITICS
Member of UK Parliament supports the Many Happy Returns campaign
Baku, July 8 (AZERTAC). Gerry Sutcliffe, the Labour MP for Bradford South, has expressed his support for the Many Happy Returns (MHR) campaign at www.manyhappyreturnsidp.com.
Mr Sutcliffe had a long and distinguished political career in the last Labour government. As well as being a Home Office Minister and Minister for Sports, he also held ministerial posts in the Ministry of Justice and the Department for Trade and Industry.
Mr Sutcliffe commented: “My thoughts are with the refugee and IDP families. I hope that Many Happy Returns comes true for you.”
The Many Happy Returns campaign is a UK-based initiative aimed at raising awareness of the ongoing plight of the estimated 875,000 Azerbaijani internally displaced persons (IDPs) and refugees who are the victims of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh.
The title of the campaign is based on the English birthday greeting ‘Many Happy Returns’ which, in this case, also refers to the wish of the Azerbaijani IDPs and refugees to return to their rightful homeland. The website features photos of IDPs in just three of the camps spread across the 76 regions of Azerbaijan, taken by the respected German photographer Philipp Rathmer.
Despite a ceasefire being called 20 years ago, and four UN Security Council resolutions being passed against the illegal Armenian occupation, those whose land was seized remain unable to go home.
The MHR website also gives members of the public the opportunity to pledge their support for a campaign to redesignate ‘UN World Refugee Day’ as ‘World Refugee and IDP Day’.