After four weeks, the Armenian-Australian community’s Federal Petition has attracted 2,062 signatories on the Australian Parliament website, urging the Australian Government to stand in line with the International Court of Justice ordering Azerbaijan to end its blockade of the Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh), reported the Armenian National Committee of Australia (ANC-AU).
The blockade, which commenced on the 12th of December 2022, has cut off all access between Artsakh and the outside world, causing an existential humanitarian crisis, leaving 120,000 Christian Armenians without access to basic goods.
The petition calls on the Australian Government to help prevent a second Armenian Genocide, reiterating the concerns raised by the International Association of Genocide Scholars, Genocide Watch and the Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention.
ANC-AU Executive Director Michael Kolokossian said, “We sincerely appreciate our community’s participation in the grassroots initiative and eagerly await its presentation to the House of Representatives, made up of elected members we are hopeful will help usher Australian support to end this illegal blockade in line with the calls of the ICJ.”
In the lead-up to the petition, the Armenian National Committee of Australia ran a social media campaign to attract community participation, as well as outreach to the greater Australian public through appearances in media.