LONDON: The United Nations rights council called on Belarus to halt its crackdown on peaceful demonstrators, urging the U.N. rights chief to probe violations in connection with last year’s controversial presidential vote.
In a separate move, the United States and 18 other countries announced the creation of a new body for collecting evidence of abuses committed “daily” in Belarus, with the aim of bringing perpetrators to justice.
The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) voted in favor of a resolution harshly critical of President Alexander Lukashenko’s government and its response to months of anti-government protests, media reported.
The text “condemns the ongoing grave violations of human rights in Belarus in connection with the 2020 presidential election, including the systematic denial of human rights and fundamental freedoms.”
The resolution, introduced by the European Union, was adopted with 20 votes in favour, seven against and 20 abstentions, after the 47-member council first rejected 14 different amendments proposed by Minsk, Moscow and Beijing.
Ahead of the vote, Belarusian ambassador Yuri Ambrazevich slammed the text as “yet another example of manipulation of the UN by Western states in their own political interests.”
Several countries came to Belarus’s defence, with Russian ambassador Gennady Gatilov condemning the resolution as “totally unacceptable” and “an extreme case of politicisation.”
Belarus was gripped by months of unprecedented anti-government demonstrations that erupted after a disputed presidential election last August in which Lukashenko claimed a sixth term in office.
His opponents say the poll was rigged and that political novice Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, who ran in place of her jailed husband, was the true winner.
Belarusian security forces unleashed a harsh crackdown against the protests, detaining demonstrators and pushing opposition leaders into exile. –PNP
