Anaïs Marin Presented Report On Situation With Human Rights In Belarus To UN
- 2.07.2019, 15:03
The Belarusian authorities should be held accountable for what is happening in the country.
On June 2nd, the Special Rapporteur on Belarus Anais Marin presented her first report on the human rights situation in the country at the 41st regular session of the UN Human Rights Council, the Human Rights Center Viasna reports.
During her speech, Anais Marin noted:
- In the absence of serious legislative reforms, lack of a genuine balance of power, lack of political will to protect and promote human rights in Belarus, there is no room for complacency. Too many of the issues I mentioned in my report still make me hold Belarus accountable, too many of the previous issues that I repeat in my report have been ignored for too long, too many people still suffer from the government's failure to give human rights the importance they deserve.
The Special Rapporteur expresses regret that the Belarusian authorities do not recognize her mandate, but she expresses her willingness to cooperate with the Government when it is ready for such a dialogue.
Yury Ambrazevich, representative of Belarus to the UN, once again expressed his dissatisfaction with the country's special mandate and stressed that "we discuss with the concerned members of the international community their concerns directly".
- We repeat that we believe that the consideration of the human rights situation in Belarus within the UN walls is inadequate to the goals and objectives of the UN and the UN Human Rights Council in particular. We confirm our fundamental rejection of the very institution of country resolutions in the UN Human Rights Council and the UN as a whole, - Yury Ambrazevich said at the end of his speech.
After that, representatives of international human rights organizations (Human Rights House Foundation, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, etc.) and other countries (Lithuania, Sweden, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Poland, the United Kingdom, etc.) had two minutes to speak. They thanked the Special Rapporteur for the report, expressed their views and concerns about the human rights situation in Belarus and asked questions. All of them expressed their support to the extension of the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on Belarus.
After that, the official representative of Belarus refused to take the final word, and Anaïs Marin answered the clarifying questions.
Dzmitry Charnykh, a lawyer with the Belarusian Helsinki Committee, attended the dialogue after the presentation of the report on Belarus. According to him, all members of the Human Rights Council were well informed about the human rights situation in Belarus and asked specific questions. It is clear that the work of human rights defenders was not in vain.
- Representatives of France, Poland, Slovakia and Great Britain asked their questions on the report. It was obvious that they were well informed and well versed in the situation in Belarus. In particular, they were interested in the pre-election situation, asked about the persecution of independent journalists and bloggers, including those who write about environmental issues. Some countries welcomed the fact that the construction of the battery factory had been suspended.
There was also much talk about the existence of the death penalty in the country, in particular, about the fact that relatives are not given the body of the executed person and are not informed about the place of burial. It was welcomed that the criminal responsibility for activities on behalf of an unregistered organization is terminated, but it was condemned that it is being replaced by an administrative one, - Charnykh said.
Almost all countries regretted that Belarus did not recognize the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on human rights and urged Belarus to change its attitude.
The voting on the resolutions, including the extension of the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on Belarus, will take place on July 11 and 12.
We remind that Frenchwoman Anaïs Marin was appointed to replace Miklos Haraszti, who was the UN Special Rapporteur on Belarus from 2012 to 2018. She is a political scientist specializing in international relations and is interested in post-communist reforms in Central and Eastern Europe. She is fluent in French, English and Russian, understands the Belarusian language and can read in Belarusian.