THE HAGUE: Judges at the International Court of Justice ruled on Tuesday that competing anti-discrimination cases between Azerbaijan and Armenia can move forward.

The court first threw out all objections Azerbaijan raised against Armenia’s case, which accuses its Caucasus neighbour of violating a UN anti-discrimination treaty in 2021.

In a competing case filed by Azerbaijan accusing Armenia of violating the same treaty, the court upheld some objections by Armenia. This limits the scope of Azerbaijan’s case because the court ruled it can only look at incidents after September 1996 and ruled out examining alleged environmental harm caused by Armenia.

Still, both cases can proceed to hearings on their merits, expected some time next year.

Each side has said the other is carrying out ethnic cleansing. Last year, the court issued emergency measures in Armenia’s case, ordering Azerbaijan to let ethnic Armenians, who fled the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave in September 2023, return. Azerbaijan retook the former breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh in September 2023, after 30 years of de facto independence, prompting almost its entire ethnic Armenian population of around 100,000 to flee to Armenia.

Azerbaijan says it has pledged to ensure all residents’ safety and security, regardless of national or ethnic origin, and that it has not forced ethnic Armenians to leave Karabakh. Azerbaijan, in its case, says Armenia is carrying out an ethnic cleansing campaign against Azeris. The ICJ, also known as the World Court, is the United Nations’ top court for resolving disputes between countries.