ANCA representative calls Congressman Issa`s Peace Act useless

ArmInfo.The "Preventing Escalation and Advancing Caucasus Engagement Act " (Peace Act), proposed by US House Foreign Affairs Committee Vice Chairman Darrell Issa, is unnecessary, unenforceable, and limited in scope, as stated  by Alex Galitsky, Political Director of the Armenian National  Committee of America (ANCA). 

According to the ARF Dashnaktsutyun press service, he explained that  sanctions would only be applied in the event of "new aggression"  against Armenia, ignoring Azerbaijan's continued occupation of  sovereign Armenian territories, the abduction and abuse of Armenian  prisoners, the destruction of Armenian cultural heritage and  property, and the right of Artsakh Armenians to return to their homes  in safety and dignity.

As a result, as the ANCA Political Director noted,  the "Law of  Peace" sets an extremely low standard for Azerbaijan's  accountability, supposedly "preventing" only "new aggression," but  justifying and normalizing Azerbaijan's ongoing human rights  violations and occupation of Armenian territories.  " Even if an  individual or country meets the criteria for sanctions, the president  is not required to apply them. In addition, most sanctions (including  the Peace Act) grant the president broad discretion to bypass  sanctions if circumvention is deemed "in the national security  interests of the United States." This rationale has been used by  successive administrations over the past two decades, including the  Trump administration, to bypass restrictions on military assistance  to Azerbaijan," the ANCA Political Director mentioned.

He further stated that the president already has the authority to  impose sanctions on Azerbaijan. The Global Magnitsky sanctions allow  the president to freeze the financial assets and deny entry to  Azerbaijani officials responsible for human rights abuses. The  European Union, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia have  similar legislation, meaning that the imposition of U.S. sanctions  could encourage their application in other countries. There are also  tools aimed at Azerbaijan's energy sector, particularly in the  context of its energy and security ties with Russia and Iran.  Washington's failure to implement these existing mechanisms raises  questions about whether the Peace Act, even if enacted, would ever be  implemented.

Furthermore, as the ANCA Political Director noted, there are also  instruments targeting Azerbaijan's energy sector, particularly in the  context of its energy and security ties with Russia and Iran. In this  context, he questioned whether the "Peace Bill" would ever be  implemented if Washington is already failing to implement existing  mechanisms.

" Washington's involvement in the Armenia-Azerbaijan peace process is  largely driven by regional energy interests. This is evidenced by  Trump's "Trump Route for International Peace" (TRIPP) initiative,  which would grant the United States exclusive rights to develop and  operate "unimpeded (transport) communication" through Syunik  (connecting Turkey with Azerbaijan), the US-Azerbaijan Memorandum of  Understanding to expand cooperation in the defense and energy  sectors, as well as the agreement reached between ExxonMobil and  SOCAR to increase American energy investments in Azerbaijan.  Any  claim that the administration will punish the very energy industry in  which it is steadily expanding its investments is naive at best and  deliberately misleading at worst.," the ANCA Political Director  added.  Thus, according to Galitsky, the bill's focus on preventing  "new aggression" comes at the expense of ongoing human rights and  security issues that remain unresolved in the bilateral peace  process. He is confident that, in this context, Azerbaijan can simply  avoid new escalations, but  continue its violence against Armenian  prisoners of war and continue its occupation of Armenian territories.

He expressed confidence that the bill serves the interests of the  Armenian authorities. Specifically, Galitsky explained, it will help  allay concerns about the lack of meaningful security guarantees for  Armenia in the peace process, while simultaneously undermining  efforts to ensure accountability and justice for human rights  violations and ongoing aggression by Azerbaijan.  In conclusion, he  touched on the actions that the US Congress should actually take.  "First and foremost, it should focus its efforts on implementing  existing sanctions and accountability instruments to ensure real  consequences for Azerbaijan's continued aggression. Specifically,  Congress should tighten restrictions on US military aid to Azerbaijan  and implement Global Magnitsky Sanctions. 

On September 18, U.S. Congressmen Dina Titus and Gus Bilirakis  introduced the bipartisan Azerbaijan Sanctions Review Act, requiring  the Trump-Vance administration to review the applicability of  sanctions under the Global Magnitsky Act to Azerbaijani officials  responsible for war crimes, human rights abuses, and the continued  unlawful detention of Armenian prisoners of war and civilian  hostages.