On April 18, ICOMOS celebrates the "International Day for Monuments and Sites," established by UNESCO's 22nd General Conference in 1983. The day encourages communities and individuals worldwide to recognize the significance of cultural heritage for their lives and identities, raise awareness of its diversity and vulnerability, and mobilize efforts for its protection.

This observance also serves as a reminder of the systematic destruction and appropriation of Artsakh's monuments by the Azerbaijani authorities: the forcible removal of Artsakh Armenians from their historical homeland and heritage, the prohibitions on engaging with monuments discriminatory treatment, and the falsification of history.

As a consequence of the 44-day war in 2020 and the military operations launched by Azerbaijan on 19 September 2023, some 120,000 ethnic Armenians were forcibly displaced from the region.

Through this state-sponsored, targeted policy, Artsakh Armenians have been severed from their socio-cultural values and denied the opportunity to preserve and transmit knowledge of their historical homeland—its natural environment, monuments, communities, and cultural landscapes—to future generations. The forced removal of more than 4,000 historical sites from Artsakh's territory, the direct threats to those that remain, the numerous heritage assets already destroyed or desecrated, and the impossibility of living in accord with one's own identity have created insurmountable challenges for sustaining the rituals, beliefs, traditions, and festivals tied to vital churches, sanctuaries, and pilgrimage sites. Because these monuments were inseparable from the identity of Artsakh Armenians, their alienation has precipitated a profound crisis—severing the bond between people and their cultural heritage, suspending collective memory and continuity, and eroding the social remembrance of the past.

The right to access cultural heritage and to participate in cultural life is enshrined in international human rights law. Article 27 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights proclaims:

"Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts, and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits." (UN, 1948, Art. 27.1)

UNESCO's interpretation confirms that this right encompasses access to cultural heritage and the freedom to engage in and enjoy cultural practices.

Former UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova poignantly asserted that the destruction of heritage is tantamount to "killing a people a second time."

In this light, the hostile aggression against Artsakh's cultural heritage is not merely an attack on monuments themselves but a denial of individual and collective identity and rights. UNESCO and the United Nations human rights mechanisms have unequivocally affirmed that the right to benefit from, preserve, and participate in cultural heritage is a fundamental human right that must be guaranteed. Yet today, in full view of the international community, 120,000 Armenians uprooted from Artsakh are deprived of these rights, severed from their historic homeland and cultural legacy. This process contravenes both UNESCO's principles for safeguarding cultural heritage and the fundamental cultural rights provisions enshrined in United Nations treaties.