UN Human Rights Council adopts resolution on Belarus, Foreign Ministry calls it absurd
belsat.eu, spring96.org, mfa.gov.by
9 July 2018, 17:23
On July 6, the UN Human Rights Council adopted a resolution on the situation of human rights in Belarus. The mandate of the UN Special Rapporteur on Belarus has been extended for another year.
While 19 member countries of the Council voted ‘for’ the resolution, “against” voted 6, and 21 states “abstained”.
The resolution expresses “permanent concern” with the situation in the field of human rights and fundamental freedoms in Belarus. The UN Council is especially concerned about the restriction of peaceful assemblies, the arrests of journalists and the imposition of fines on them for professional activities, attacks on human rights defenders, trade unions and civil society organizations. The resolution expresses regret that the authorities do not investigate cases of torture and inhuman treatment, discrimination against certain groups of the population, arbitrary detentions of activists. The UN Council recalls that the circumstances of the forced disappearance of political opponents of the authorities, which took place in 1999-2000, remain unclear.
Also, the UN Human Rights Council urges the Government of Belarus to fully cooperate with the Special Rapporteur Miklos Haraszti.
The spokesman for the Belarusian Foreign Ministry Anatol Glaz called the resolution “absurd by design and substance.”
9 July 2018, 17:23
While 19 member countries of the Council voted ‘for’ the resolution, “against” voted 6, and 21 states “abstained”.
The resolution expresses “permanent concern” with the situation in the field of human rights and fundamental freedoms in Belarus. The UN Council is especially concerned about the restriction of peaceful assemblies, the arrests of journalists and the imposition of fines on them for professional activities, attacks on human rights defenders, trade unions and civil society organizations. The resolution expresses regret that the authorities do not investigate cases of torture and inhuman treatment, discrimination against certain groups of the population, arbitrary detentions of activists. The UN Council recalls that the circumstances of the forced disappearance of political opponents of the authorities, which took place in 1999-2000, remain unclear.
Also, the UN Human Rights Council urges the Government of Belarus to fully cooperate with the Special Rapporteur Miklos Haraszti.
The spokesman for the Belarusian Foreign Ministry Anatol Glaz called the resolution “absurd by design and substance.”
“We do not accept this document as it is politicized and is distorting the real state of things in our country,” he said, responding to a question from BelaPAN.
