Kerkonian Dajani Law Firm submits complaint against design firm for violations regarding work in Artsakh

GLENDALE, Calif.—Kerkonian Dajani LLP submitted a complaint with the National Contact Point in the United Kingdom, alleging breaches of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises by the global architectural firm Chapman Taylor LLC. Filed on behalf of Avan Shushi Partnership, the complaint alleges that Chapman Taylor’s conduct in redesigning Shushi violated OECD guidelines by failing to mitigate, and instead contributing to, the adverse human rights impacts suffered by the indigenous Artsakh Armenians.

The matter is filed in the aftermath of Azerbaijan’s 286-day blockade and the September 2023 forced displacement of the Artsakh Armenians, in what Freedom House firmly concludes was ethnic cleansing. In fact, during Azerbaijan’s nine-month blockade of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh), the former prosecutor of the International Criminal Court urgently reported that the president of Azerbaijan exhibited clear genocidal intent against the Artsakh Armenians. Genocide Watch, the Lemkin Institute and the International Association of Genocide Scholars had issued their own genocide alerts.

In the OECD complaint, the Avan Shushi Partnership, which owns the Avan Shushi Hotel & Tourist Center in Shushi, alleges that Chapman Taylor was engaged to redesign Shushi shortly after the Azerbaijani military took control of the historically Armenian city in November 2020 and that, during its work, Chapman Taylor actively determined the fate of structures within Shushi, even marking buildings and homes for demolition.

“It is clear that our hotel was modified, repurposed and rebranded, and this was done without our approval or consent,” states Avan’s lead partner Alec Baghdasaryan. His concerns, however, are wider: “The countless images of the destruction of Armenian property, including the homes, churches and cemeteries of the Artsakh Armenians, are painful to bear. This is a complete and utter travesty for which there should be accountability.”

As alleged in the complaint, Chapman Taylor proceeded undeterred with its work in Shushi amidst ongoing human rights abuses. In its submission, Avan Shushi claims that Chapman Taylor’s conduct did not comport with the OECD compliance regime, which requires multinational enterprises to recognize and even mitigate human rights risks associated with their operations. In fact, the complaint asserts that Chapman Taylor’s OECD violations occurred amidst Azerbaijan’s systematic erasure of the Armenian people, presence and heritage of Shushi, and that the design firm did not employ any leverage to try to mitigate adverse human rights impacts, as required under the OECD guidelines.

“Azerbaijan has been openly engaged in a blatant campaign to remove the indigenous Armenian people — and now their heritage and history — from Artsakh. Azerbaijan’s impunity in this regard is patently unmitigated,” asserted Karnig Kerkonian, partner at Kerkonian Dajani LLP. “Under the OECD guidelines, multinational enterprises are provided clear and detailed parameters by which to measure their own actions and associations, especially when it comes to fundamental human rights and, in particular, as it relates to the recognition and mitigation of adverse human rights impacts.”

The OECD complaint mechanism has been utilized increasingly by human rights advocates to seek accountability measures on multinational enterprises. This matter against Chapman Taylor was submitted to the U.K. National Contact Point in London on July 25, 2024.