Nagorno-Karabakh

Lord Collins of Highbury Excerpts

Thursday 21st September 2023 Lords Chamber

[The Earl of Courtown (Con)]

It is always good to hear the experiences of the noble Baroness. The points she makes are well founded and there are many concerns. It is particularly right and proper that my noble friend Lord Ahmad is at the UN this week; as noble Lords know, he is the Human Rights Minister. The noble Baroness also mentioned the Lachin corridor which, as she correctly said, was used for fuel and goods to be taken into the area and is now closed; it has been closed since December. There are considerable humanitarian problems faced by the population there now.

[Lord Collins of Highbury (Lab)]

My Lords, on that point, France called for the meeting of the Security Council under Article 35, which will take place this afternoon, to address this escalation. Can the Minister outline how we at the United Nations will support a negotiated solution through the OSCE Minsk Group at today’s briefing? How exactly is the United Kingdom supporting efforts for the permanent lifting of the blockade of the Lachin corridor?

[The Earl of Courtown (Con)]

The noble Lord makes some very good points. As he pointed out, the French, the EU and US have been hugely busy over the last few days on this. The US and EU have been large actors over the last year in facilitating meetings between the different parties. This is a difficult issue but, as I said earlier, at the OSCE yesterday and at the Security Council later today my noble friend will be making those points. Once he returns from the UN I will ask him if he could inform the noble Lord of any progress.