Armenian National Committee of the United Kingdom - ANC UK

01/10/2026

An Azerbaijani soldier who illegally crossed into Armenia entered a home in the border village of Shaki, Syunik Province, and shot an Armenian woman in the leg in front of her three children, according to Armenia’s National Security Service and local officials.

Two days earlier, Azerbaijan had informed Armenian authorities that the serviceman had left his military unit and may have illegally crossed the Armenian border. According to a local resident, the serviceman had spent the night inside the family’s empty home. When the woman returned with her children and discovered him, she raised the alarm and was shot. Shaki village head Manucharyan said: “When we entered the scene, we saw blood traces, but the woman’s life is not in danger”. The armed serviceman fled the house and was later located and detained by Armenian law enforcement.

30/09/2026

Read our September 2026 Newsletter here: https://ancuk.org.uk/anc-uk-newsletter-september-2026/

29/09/2026

Sam Mason, Chief Executive of Humanitarian Aid Relief Trust (HART) and Goodwill Ambassador for the Artsakh Union, has reflected on the third anniversary of the forced displacement of the Armenian population of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh).

“Three years ago today, an entire population lost their homes. They feared for their lives, and they fled en masse”. Mason recalled receiving messages from people trapped inside Artsakh during the blockade: “Friends inside Nagorno-Karabakh, in tears, as they packed their belongings and said goodbye to their homes and gardens and farms, goodbye to school playgrounds, and goodbye to family burial sites”.

He also warned against treating the displacement as a settled issue: “The Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh have not disappeared. Their culture has not disappeared. Their connection to their homeland has not disappeared”. “The future of this community is still being written”.

His complete statement here: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/sam-mason-79a307221_has-this-become-a-hidden-tragedy-of-share-7510666783809384449-fLd8/

29/09/2026

Christian Solidarity International (CSI) hosted a side event at the 63rd session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, marking three years since the ethnic cleansing of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh).

The event featured Armine Aleksanyan, former Deputy Foreign Minister of Artsakh; Siranush Sahakyan, international human rights lawyer; Lorena Lopez de Lacalle, President of the European Free Alliance; Karnig Kerkonian, international lawyer and member of the Nagorno Karabakh Committee; and Thibault van den Bossche of the European Centre for Law and Justice. It was moderated by CSI’s Joel Veldkamp.

“Peace cannot be built on fear. Peace and human rights should not become casualties to peace”, said Aleksanyan, calling for international security guarantees for the return of Artsakh Armenians.

Addressing Armenian detainees held in Baku, Sahakyan stressed: “If there is to be genuine peace, those who remain in captivity must be released immediately.”

Kerkonian emphasised that return must be collective, under international protection and with fundamental human rights intact, concluding: “The rights exist. The tools exist. The people exist.”

Watch the side event here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UI4vIjl2oEQ

27/09/2026

Three years ago, on 27 September 2023, Ruben Vardanyan was arrested by Azerbaijani authorities while attempting to leave Artsakh for Armenia amid the mass forced displacement of its Armenian population. Since then, Armenian captives in Baku have faced prolonged detention, closed-door trials, lengthy prison sentences and severe restrictions on contact with their families and the outside world.

Currently, 20 Armenians remain illegally detained in Baku. Seventeen of them, including the political and military leadership of Artsakh, were arrested in 2023. Two others — Alyosha Khosrovyan and Lyudvig Mkrtchyan — have been held there since 2020. The most recent arrest was that of Karen Avanesyan, one of the few Armenians who had remained in Stepanakert. He was arrested on September 14, 2025, and sentenced to 16 years in prison.

The Armenian captives are being kept in total isolation. No visits with relatives have taken place since their detention. Representatives of the ICRC Geneva office last visited them in December 2025.

Read the statement of the Free Armenian Prisoners Team here: https://freearmenianprisoners.com/three-years-in-captivity-despite-the-peace-process-ruben-vardanyan-and-other-armenians-remain-unlawfully-detained-in-azerbaijan/

25/09/2026

During the 63rd Session of the UN Human Rights Council, Dr Joel Veldkamp, Director for Public Advocacy at Christian Solidarity International (CSI), delivered a statement on Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh), co-sponsored by the World Evangelical Alliance and the European Centre for Law and Justice. “This month marks three years since Azerbaijan conquered Nagorno Karabakh and emptied it of its entire Armenian Christian population”.

Dr Veldkamp highlighted the continued denial of the right of return, Armenian captives held in Azerbaijan and the destruction of Armenian cultural heritage. He also raised concerns over the recent visit of 150 diplomats to Artsakh’s “ethnically-cleansed cities”. “Peace in the South Caucasus cannot be built on ethnic cleansing, politically motivated unlawful detention, and cultural destruction.”

CSI called on the Human Rights Council to take meaningful measures to ensure the safe return of the Armenians of Artsakh to their homeland, with guarantees for the full enjoyment of their human rights.

Watch the complete oral statement of CSI here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cpV-mV1xRY

25/09/2026

The Pan-Armenian Conference of Armenian National Committee offices is taking place in Armenia from 25–28 September, bringing together ANC representatives from around 20 countries, alongside representatives of ARF bodies.

Over four days, participants will assess the work carried out by ANC offices worldwide, discuss the main priorities for upcoming activities and review strategic approaches for advancing our collective work.

25/09/2026

A nine-year-old Armenian Christian boy, William, was reportedly attacked and pepper-sprayed by Jewish extremists in Jerusalem while riding his bicycle and listening to music through headphones during Yom Kippur according to journalist Kegham Balian.

According to Israeli Channel 13 journalist Yossi Eli, the attackers approached William, threatened him and demanded that he remove his headphones. After hearing him speak English, one reportedly said, “No English, Jews!”, before the boy was pepper-sprayed. Footage subsequently showed William receiving medical treatment in an ambulance.

Reports state that this was the second time William had been attacked. His mother said that he has struggled to sleep since the latest incident. Despite the reported existence of security-camera footage, the police case was closed without any arrests.

25/09/2026

On September 24, the Armenian Relief Society (ARS) and the Armenian Legal Center for Justice and Human Rights (ALC) convened the side event “Refugee Justice for the Armenian Women and Children of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh)” at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, during the UN Human Rights Council’s 63rd session. The discussion focused on protecting displaced women and children, voluntary, safe and dignified collective return, housing and property restitution, safeguarding Armenian cultural and religious heritage, and securing justice and accountability.

Judge Silvia Fernández de Gurmendi, former President of the International Criminal Court, emphasised: “Populations do not just have a right to cross the border to return to their country. They have a right to return to their specific homes”.

Gegham Stepanyan, Artsakh’s Human Rights Ombudsman, stated: “The right to return is not a political bargaining chip. It is an inalienable, legally binding human right”.

View the complete event here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iE2GObi2nc

24/09/2026