Committee for the Defense of the Fundamental Rights of the Nagorno-Karabakh People et al. vs. Socar Trading SA

Allegations

On 17 March 2026, the Committee for the Defense of the Fundamental Rights of the Nagorno-Karabakh People, the Switzerland-Armenia Association, Kerkonian Dajani LLP and the Armenian Legal Defense Front Inc. filed a complaint against Socar Trading SA (Socar Trading) at the Swiss NCP. The complaint concerns Socar Trading’s business relationship with its parent company the State Oil Company of the Republic of Azerbaijan (SOCAR), a state-owned government of Azerbaijan in the context of the armed conflict in and around Nagorno-Karabakh.

The complainants allege that Socar Trading, as the commercial and financial arm of SOCAR, failed to conduct adequate human rights due diligence in relation to its business relationship with SOCAR. They allege that despite the risk of of sever human rights violations by the Azerbaijani state against the Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh, Socar Trading continued to provide financial and commercial support to Socar, thereby contributing to the adverse impacts. The complaint states that Socar Trading failed to use its leverage or consider responsible disengagement to prevent or mitigate these impacts.

The complainants are seeking from Socar Trading independent human rights due diligence, increased transparency and measures to prevent, mitigate and remediate adverse human rights impacts.

Relevant OECD Guidelines

• Chapter II
• Chapter IV
• Part 1

Outcome

On 26 August 2026, the Swiss NCP published its Initial Assessment rejecting the complaint. The NCP concluded that there was no sufficiently direct link between Socar Trading’s own operations, products or services and the alleged impacts. The NCP found no substantiated indication that Socar Trading exercises control or leverage over how revenues generated by Socar Trading are used by SOCAR or the Azerbaijani state.

More details

Documents

• Reject

  26 August 2026

  Initial Assessment

  Swiss NCP