The Belarus Government should end “violent crackdowns” and “increasing repression” against protesters who are still contesting the result of last month’s Presidential elections, UN deputy rights chief Nada Al Nashif told the Human Rights Council.
At the end of a memorable day of back-and-forth discussions between the Council President and delegations – featuring more than a dozen points of order by delegations who questioned the right of some of those addressing the Council to speak and no less than 17 amendments to a European-Union sponsored call for action – the Geneva-based forum finally adopted a resolution on the deteriorating rights situation in Belarus.
It passed by 23 votes for, two against, and with 22 abstentions.
Delivering a statement for UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, Ms. Al Nashif said that despite violence by state security officers and thousands of arrests, peaceful mass demonstrations have continued.
“We witnessed thousands of arrests, hundreds of reports of torture and other ill-treatment, including sexual violence and the reported torture of children. The violent abduction of people in broad daylight by masked individuals, presumably on the basis of their peacefully expressed opinions. Harassment, intimidation, pressure, and reported expulsion from Belarus of members of the opposition, including the members of the Coordination Council, should stop.”
Successive UN Special Rapporteurs on the situation of human rights in Belarus had consistently described a deeply oppressive environment for human rights in the country, Ms. Al Nashif noted.
Original source: UN News
