Association for the Defence of the Human Rights of the Azerbaijani People - Iran – “ARCDH" 9th FORUM ON MINORITY ISSUES "Minorities in humanitarian situation Discussion. Item 3 9th session of the Forum on Minority Issues - ohchr 24/25 November 2016 Unites Nations - Geneva Dear Mr President, The Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities requires the elimination of all forms of discrimination against members of minorities and the recognition of their legitimacy without discrimination. However, minorities are often disproportionately affected by humanitarian crises, natural or man-made disasters, or social and economic crises. For example, Mr. President, let me mention the human crisis that is happening in my region of Azerbaijan in Iran. The second largest Salt Lake in the world Lake Ourmia is nowadays 95% dry. In addition to the threat posed by sea salt to the sustainability of agriculture, salt storms cause a health crisis characterized by a dramatic increase in the rate of skin diseases, drought and eye allergies, lung cancer and high blood pressure in the eastern provinces of Azerbaijan. The remaining 5% of the lake and 8 billion tonnes of salt which are soon to be exposed to the open air leave little hope to the population settled in this region. Faced with this ecological catastrophe, is evident that there will be an immigration of around 5 million people. We will witness a humanitarian catastrophe affecting the most fragile, especially women and children, forced to leave their homes and communities in West and East Azerbaijan. Despite the goodwill of the international community and experts to save the lives of millions of people in Azerbaijan-Iran, we find that after several years, Lake Ourmia has become a highly politicized place. The Iranian authorities have systematically created an obstacle to the use of the budget allocated for the project to safeguard Lake Ourmia and to date none of President ROUHANI’s promises has been accomplished. In ArcDH, we demand that the Iranian State cease using the disappearance of Lake Ourmia as a means of political pressure and that it assumes its responsibilities by urgently taking the ecological and humanitarian measures that are necessary in this particular case. We believe that respect for minorities is a way of preventing or mitigating the impact of humanitarian crises. Association Arc pour la défense des droits de l’homme du peuple azerbaidjanais – Iran - « ARCDH »