Azerbaijani MP reproached the international organizations with indifference to the fate of children in captivity. “Despite our repeated appeals, the international organizations do not take serious steps for the return of children taken into captivity during the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,” the head of the Children Organization of Azerbaijan, MP Gular Ahmadova said on Nov. 20 at a special meeting of the Parliament on the occasion 20th anniversary of the adoption of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

According to Ahmadova, there are serious problems in Azerbaijan associated with infant mortality “The international organizations should not refuse to assist in addressing this problem,” she said. According to the MP, owing to the intervention by the President of Azerbaijan, the trafficking of children was eliminated in the country.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan since 1992, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group – Russia, France, and the U.S. – are currently holding the peace negotiations.