{"id":1865,"date":"2025-05-15T16:59:33","date_gmt":"2025-05-15T16:59:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/staging.caucasusheritage.arts.cornell.edu\/?page_id=1865"},"modified":"2026-06-07T15:47:16","modified_gmt":"2026-06-07T15:47:16","slug":"impacts","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/staging.caucasusheritage.arts.cornell.edu\/?page_id=1865","title":{"rendered":"Public Engagement"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

CHW actively engages with policy makers, legislators, and international bodies to ensure that the destruction of cultural heritage in the South Caucasus is addressed at the highest levels of government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Congressional & Legislative Testimony<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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February 2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

UK All-Party Parliamentary Group on International Law, Justice and Accountability<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

CHW provided expert testimony to the United Kingdom’s All-Party Parliamentary Groups on Armenia and International Law, Justice and Accountability. Their inquiry, conducted in partnership with the International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI), is examining the evidence for systematic destruction, alteration, and appropriation of Armenian religious, historic, and cultural monuments in Nagorno-Karabakh since 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Read Testimony<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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June 2025<\/p>\n\n\n\n

U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

CHW Lead Researcher Dr. Husik Ghulyan testified before USCIRF on religious freedom conditions in Azerbaijan and the destruction of Armenian cultural heritage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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View Testimony<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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September 2024<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

CHW co-director Prof. Adam T. Smith provided witness testimony at the hearing “Human Rights in Azerbaijan Since the Fall of Nagorno-Karabakh.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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View Testimony<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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June 2024<\/p>\n\n\n\n

United States Congress<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

CHW briefed the staff of Congressman Adam Schiff ahead of a letter signed by 48 Members of Congress to Secretary of State Blinken calling for cultural heritage protection to be raised at every diplomatic meeting with Azerbaijan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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View Letter<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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January 2024<\/code><\/p>\n\n\n\n

House of Lords \u2014 International Relations and Defence Committee<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

CHW provided a brief to the UK House of Lords committee in advance of its meeting on Nagorno-Karabakh. A question focused on cultural heritage and CHW’s evidence can be found at 10:47:45.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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View Session<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Policy Citations<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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2023<\/p>\n\n\n\n

USCIRF Annual Report <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

CHW’s investigation of the destruction of St. Sargis Church cited in the 2023 Annual Report of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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View Report<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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2022<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Medieval Academy of America<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The Medieval Academy of America issued a statement on Medieval Armenian Heritage in the Region of Nagorno-Karabakh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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View Statement<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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2022<\/p>\n\n\n\n

European Parliament<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

CHW’s work referenced in the European Union’s relations with Armenia and Azerbaijan \u2014 European Implementation Assessment, September 2022.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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2022<\/p>\n\n\n\n

USCIRF Azerbaijan Report<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

CHW’s findings cited in the USCIRF 2022 Azerbaijan Report \u2014 Recommendation for Special Watch List.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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View Report<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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2021<\/p>\n\n\n\n

U.S. Department of State<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

CHW’s monitoring work cited in the 2021 Report on International Religious Freedom: Azerbaijan and the 2021 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Azerbaijan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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View Report<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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2021<\/p>\n\n\n\n

International Court of Justice<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The ICJ issued provisional measures in the Case of Armenia v. Azerbaijan ordering the protection of Armenian cultural heritage \u2014 a ruling whose violation CHW was first to document.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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View Order<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CHW actively engages with policy makers, legislators, and international bodies to ensure that the destruction of cultural heritage in the South Caucasus is addressed at the highest levels of government. Congressional & Legislative Testimony February 2026 UK All-Party Parliamentary Group on International Law, Justice and Accountability CHW provided expert testimony to the United Kingdom’s All-Party […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1865","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"blocksy_meta":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.caucasusheritage.arts.cornell.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1865","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.caucasusheritage.arts.cornell.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.caucasusheritage.arts.cornell.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.caucasusheritage.arts.cornell.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.caucasusheritage.arts.cornell.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1865"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"https:\/\/staging.caucasusheritage.arts.cornell.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1865\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2388,"href":"https:\/\/staging.caucasusheritage.arts.cornell.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1865\/revisions\/2388"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.caucasusheritage.arts.cornell.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1865"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}