UN approves motion on enhanced scrutiny of alleged human rights violations in Belarus

Yury Ambrazevich, Belarus' Permanent Representative to the UN Office, during the opening of 45th session of the Human Rights Council, at the UN in Geneva.
Yury Ambrazevich, Belarus' Permanent Representative to the UN Office, during the opening of 45th session of the Human Rights Council, at the UN in Geneva. Copyright Martial Trezzini/AP Photo
By Euronews
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Representatives from Belarus, Russia, Venezuela and China had attempted to halt statements from civil society and the UN special rapporteur detailing reports of torture and detentions in Belarus.

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The UN's top human rights body on Friday passed a resolution seeking quick and enhanced scrutiny of alleged violations in Belarus, following reports of torture and detentions.

Reports of detentions followed a contested presidential election that resulted in the reelection of authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko.

The UN Human Rights Council voted 23-2 with 22 abstentions on the resolution, submitted by the European Union, which calls on the UN's human rights chief to look into the situation in the country and report back by year-end.

The body rejected efforts to silence speakers and water down the text of the resolution — Belarus earlier attempted to stop testimony during the "urgent debate".

In total, 17 amendments were rejected that had sought to alter the language.

Representatives from Belarus, Venezuela, Russia and China attempted to stop video interventions from the Special Rapporteur on Belarus, opposition politician Svaitlana Tsikhanouskaya and a young woman who told a harrowing story of her detention in the country.

They claimed that showing videos of people who do not represent states was against the "rules of procedure", a claim that was rejected by European countries and the head of the UN's Human Rights Council.

Multiple European representatives meanwhile condemned the human rights situation after multiple reports have emerged of protesters and citizens who were detained, beaten and tortured.

Anais Marin, the council's special rapporteur on the human rights situation in Belarus, said that more than 10,000 people had been abusively arrested for taking part in peaceful protests. She called on authorities to stop "escalating violence".

Main opposition candidate Sviatlana Tikhanouskaya called on the international community to act, stating that it was "a universal question of human dignity."

Belarus' UN representative Yury Ambrazevich rejected claims of torture and detentions, stating that "mass media and social networks have provided a lopsided picture of reality" and insisting that the urgent debate constituted "external interference" in Belarusian affairs.

A representative from UN Women also highlighted reports of violence against women and said the UN was highly concerned by hundreds of reports about violence against women and children in Belarus.

Russia's representative called states "aggressive" and said that countries were attempting to destabilise the country.

A resolution in the Human Rights Council

Germany has presented a resolution to the human rights council condemning the torture and arbitrary detentions in Belarus.

Many international countries are calling on an independent investigation and a national dialogue facilitated by the OSCE.

The European Union has said the election in Belarus was neither free nor fair and the EU Parliament recently voted to impose sanctions on Belarus.

The resolution calls on UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet to look into human rights abuses and report back to the council.

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