For over a month, the people of Artsakh/Nagorno-Karabakh have been trapped by the complete blockade.

Azerbaijan has blocked the only road (Road of Life) that provides essential goods such as food and medicine to 120,000 people in Artsakh, 30,000 of whom are children.  Because of Artsakh's severely limited petroleum and food supplies, people cannot receive appropriate medical services and supportive appliances, and children cannot attend kindergartens, day care services. To ensure the allocation of limited food resources, the government is forced to swich to food vouchers. It is difficult to forecast how long blockade will last.

This is the ONLY ROUTE that connects the people of Artsakh to Armenia and the rest of the world. Just before blockage a group of children (over 200) from Artsakh visited Armenia to attend Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2022 in Yerevan and became unexpectedly stuck, being separated from their parents. The people of Artsakh/ Nagorno-Karabakh are mentally, emotionally and physically exhausted; they suffer not only from extreme food shortages, deficit of basic services but also from trauma, as people has no clear understanding of their immediate future. Azerbaijan has exacerbated the humanitarian crisis in recent days by obstructing repairs of high-voltage electric wires and causing periodic outages of the Internet and mobile communication. This keeps adding to the hardships faced by separated parents and children.

This situation also places pressure on Armenian social workers. For years now, we have been providing support to people who have fled to Armenia from Artsakh/Nagorno-Karabakh as a result of the 44-days war in 2020.  The Armenian Association of Social Workers has also provided professional support to social workers in Artsakh who were working with war affected families who had returned home.

But after a month of total blockade, we are confronted with nearly insurmountable challenges and seek international assistance and support from the professional community of social workers.

We believe you will find ways to help us in protecting the human rights, dignity and security of the Artsakh people, particularly the essential needs of 200 and 30000 children in crisis. We NEED YOUR HELP to get through these difficult times.

For more information, please visit our social media groups/pages on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram: @LifeRoadArtsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh).

        Facebook: LifeRoad of Artsakh(Nagorno-Karabakh) | Facebook

        Twitter: LifeRoad of Artsakh(Nagorno-Karabakh) (@LifeRoadArtsakh) / Twitter

        Instagram: Liferoad_Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) (@liferoad_artsakh)

Our account number is:

We are wholeheartedly grateful for your consideration of our request, as well as your assistance and help. 

Sincerely,

Mira Antonyan on behalf of the Association of Social Workers in Armenia