Competition Structure and Objectives
The second edition of the "Armenian Students for Artsakh" research competition took place during the 2025-2026 academic year. The event was organized at the initiative of the ARF Bureau Youth Office. According to The Armenian Weekly, the program brought together several dozen students from countries around the world.
The primary objective of the program is to unite Armenian students around the right of return of the people of Artsakh. The competition featured summaries of five top-ranked research papers, including winners who received first-, second-, and third-place honors.
First-Place Research on Indigenous Rights
Stella Pashyan of the United States received the first scholarship prize for her paper titled "The Right of Return: Artsakh Armenians, the Indigenous People of Nagorno-Karabakh." Her work was completed with academic adviser Dr. Kevork Hagopjian.
Pashyan’s research cites the initial Nagorno-Karabakh War (1988–1994) as an Armenian victory and the 2020 war as a 44-day Azerbaijan victory. The paper describes Azerbaijan’s Sept. 19, 2023 military offensive against Nagorno-Karabakh as ethnic cleansing leading to forced displacement and casualties of all ethnic Armenians in the area.
Pashyan argues that Artsakh Armenians have a right to return to Nagorno-Karabakh lands based on their status as an Indigenous people under international law. She cites historical continuity, cultural distinctiveness, non-dominance, and self-identification as supporting factors for this claim.
Legal Frameworks Cited
The paper references Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous People (UNDRIP) regarding rights to lands and territories. It also cites Article 10 of UNDRIP concerning protection from forcible removal with the option of return.
Pashyan notes that the right of return is protected under human rights law in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.