evidence: Azerbaijan’s blockade of a key route into the breakaway territory of Nagorno-Karabakh endangered the lives of thousands of people and, followed by a military offensive, forced most of the ethnic Armenians to flee the region. The government’s crackdown on freedom of expression intensified. Journalists, human rights defenders and activists were arrested in retaliation for their work. Peaceful protests were suppressed, and the work of media outlets and independent organizations remained unduly restricted. Women and girls continued to face gender-based harassment and violence. On 19 September, Azerbaijan launched a major military offensive to disarm and disband the de facto authorities in the breakaway territory of Nagorno-Karabakh. Within hours its forces had regained control over the whole region, and within a few days in September and October more than 100,000 people – almost all of Nagorno-Karabakh’s ethnic Armenian population – had fled to Armenia.1 Those displaced faced economic hardships and uncertainty as no significant progress had been made by Azerbaijan to ensure their right to return in safety and dignity by year’s end (see Armenia entry). [...] For nine months prior to the military offensive in September, Azerbaijan’s blockade of the Lachin corridor, a road connecting Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia, caused critical shortages of basic necessities including food, medicines and fuel, and a humanitarian crisis in the breakaway region. In February, the International Court of Justice ordered "unimpeded movement" in both directions, but this was ignored. Azerbaijani authorities insisted that Nagorno-Karabakh be supplied from territory controlled by Azerbaijan or that supplies from Armenia be subjected to thorough inspections, which the Armenian side rejected.3