Risk of mass unemployment growing in Artsakh
YEREVAN, December 16. /ARKA/. The risk of mass unemployment is growing in Artsakh as the number of business entities suspended due to the month-long blockade of the Lachin corridor by Azerbaijan is also on the rise, Artsakh Human Rights Defender Gegham Stepanyan said.
According to him, 16.4% of entrepreneurs suspended their activity because of the impossibility of work under Azerbaijan's blockade.
The only road connecting Artsakh and Armenia has been blockaded by Azerbaijan since December 12, 2022. Before the blockade about 400 tons of food was supplied to Artsakh from Armenia daily.
About a thousand people (including several dozen children, have been separated from their families.
All planned surgical operations are suspended. After pressure from the ECHR, following the death of a seriously ill person in a Stepanakert hospital, and thanks to the mediation of the International Red Cross, some patients are being transferred by special convoys to medical centres in Armenia.
Pharmacies are running out of stocks of all medicines. Fuel is running out, food is running out and shops are empty. Kindergartens are closed because it is not possible to provide food for children
Thus, 120,000 people (including 30,000 children and 20,000 elderly) are on the verge of a humanitarian crisis. -0-